Nanocytometer for smart analysis of peripheral blood and acute myeloid leukemia: a pilot study

We realize an ultracompact nanocytometer for real-time impedimetric detection and classification of subpopulations ofliving cells. Nanoscopic nanowires in a microfluidic channel act asnanocapacitors and measure in real time the change of theamplitude and phase of the output voltage and, thus, the electricalproperties of living cells. We perform the cell classification in thehuman peripheral blood (PBMC) and demonstrate for thefirsttime the possibility to discriminate monocytes andsubpopulationsof lymphocytes in a label-free format. Further, we demonstrate thatthe PBMC of acute myeloid leukemia and healthy samples grantthe label free identification of the disease. Using the algorithmbased on machine learning, we generatedspecific data patternstodiscriminate healthy donors and leukemia patients. Such a solutionhas the potential to improve the traditional diagnostics approaches with respect to the overall cost and time effort, in a label-freeformat, and restrictions of the complex data analysis.