Cell isolation is also known as cell separation or cell sorting. It is a process of isolating one cell population from other cells in a heterogeneous biological sample. The targeted cells are isolated and separated.
Cell separation and isolation techniques are utilized for detecting diseases early, and in biopharmaceutical production, such as biosimilars, recombinant proteins, and monoclonal antibodies. Cell isolation is highly utilized in the healthcare sector, due to the hassle-free production of biopharmaceuticals.
Cells require a more scrutinized filtration system as they are obtained from humans, plants, and animals, to prevent contamination from bacteria and viruses. It thus helps in improving the treatment of patients.
Biopharmaceuticals are utilized in chronic disease treatment, more specifically cancer. The growing prevalence of cancer and other chronic diseases has resulted in increased biopharmaceutical demand. Biopharmaceuticals help in the early diagnosis of cancer.
The expansion of the biopharmaceutical industry due to the massively growing population in emerging countries, such as India and China, leads to the growing demand for cell isolation biological structures.
The cell isolation techniques support scientists in performing various applications, such as,
• Capturing tumor cells in the blood
• Isolating immune cells in peripheral blood
• Isolating the white blood cells from tissue
• Separation of bacteria from food
• conducting molecular analysis of specific cell populations
• recovering the mononucleated cells from blood
Cell Isolation Techniques
There are several types of methods for isolating cell populations, these are usually based on one or more properties unique to the cell type such as density, protein, electric charge, size, expression, and others.
Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting
The fluorescence-activating cell sorting technology involves labeling cells with fluorescent markers depending on the targeted cell group’s internal or external characteristics. Based on the color, the cells are identified and sorted one at a time.
Density Gradient Centrifugation
The density gradient centrifugation involves centrifugation of the biological sample until cell types are isolated into layers based on their specific densities.
Magnetic-Activated Cell Sorting (MACS)
The magnetic-activated cell sorting involves binding magnetic particles to cells through an antibody interaction with the surface markers of targeted cells. Further, the cell group is magnetically isolated from the rest of the biological sample.
Filtration
It is a cell isolation method that depends on the cell size. It utilizes a filtration device that is specific to the size of the targeted cell group. The smaller cells pass-through the device, while the larger ones are trapped.
Buoyancy-Activated Cell Sorting (BACS)
The buoyancy-activated cell sorting involves revolutionary cell isolation technology. In this, microbubbles bind to cells, while the targeted cells are removed through floatation.
The major companies operating in the industry are Merck KGaA, Terumo Corporation, STEMCELL Technologies Inc., Dickinson and Company, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and Becton.
Therefore, the expansion of the biopharmaceutical sector in emerging economies leads to the growing demand for cell isolation to improve healthcare.
