Real-time deformability cytometry: on-the-fly cell mechanical phenotyping

Real-time deformability cytometry allows the continuous mechanical characterization of cells with high throughput and is applied to distinguish cell-cycle phases, track differentiated cells and profile cell populations in whole blood. We introduce real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC) for continuous cell mechanical characterization of large populations (>100,000 cells) with analysis rates greater than 100 cells/s. RT-DC is sensitive to cytoskeletal alterations and can distinguish cell-cycle phases, track stem cell differentiation into distinct lineages and identify cell populations in whole blood by their mechanical fingerprints. This technique adds a new marker-free dimension to flow cytometry with diverse applications in biology, biotechnology and medicine.