Microfluidics for effective concentration and sorting of waterborne protozoan pathogens

• Concentration of parasites with a 96% recovery rate at 1.5 mL/min using microfluidics
• Cryptosporidium and Giardia can be separated or jointly concentrated, depending on device operation.
• Inertial focussing microfluidics could process 50 mL in less than 10 min.

We report on an inertial focussing based microfluidics technology for concentrating waterborne protozoa, achieving a 96% recovery rate of Cryptosporidium parvum and 86% for Giardia lamblia at a throughput (mL/min) capable of replacing centrifugation. The approach can easily be extended to other parasites and also bacteria.