Micro-thermal field-flow fractionation of bacteria

The retention of Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria cells, achieved with the use of micro-thermal field-flow fractionation and described in this paper, represents the first experimental proof that the separation and characterization of the bio-macromolecules and biological particles is possible by exploiting Ludwig–Soret effect of thermal diffusion. The experiments were carried out under gentle experimental conditions preventing the denaturation of the bacteria. Lift forces, appearing at high linear velocities of the carrier liquid, generated the focusing mechanism of the retention which resulted in high-speed and high-performance separation performed in less than 10 min.