Emerging Microfluidic Plasma Separation Technologies for Point-of-Care Diagnostics: Moving Beyond Conventional Centrifugation

Abstract

Plasma separation is an essential step in blood-based diagnostics. While traditional centrifugation is effective, it is costly and usually restricted to centralized laboratories because it requires relatively expensive equipment, a supply of consumables, and trained personnel. In an effort to alleviate these shortcomings, microfluidic and point-of-care devices offering rapid and low-cost plasma separation from small sample volumes, such as finger-stick samples, are quickly emerging as an alternative. Such microscale plasma separation systems enable reduced costs, rapid test results, self-testing, and broader accessibility, particularly in resource-limited or remote settings and facilitate the integration of separation, fluid handling, and downstream analysis into portable, automated lab-on-a-chip platforms. This review highlights advances in microfluidic systems and lab-on-a-chip devices for plasma separation categorized in design strategies, separation principles and characteristics, application purposes, and future directions for the decentralization of healthcare and personalized medicine.