Mesoscale blood cell sedimentation for processing millilitre sample volumesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: S1 - addendum to experimental methods, S2 - investigating device dimensions, S3 - mesoscale blood sedimentation vs. cell filtration membrane, S4 - plasma separation efficiency. See DOI: 10.1039/c5lc00644a

We demonstrate the efficient separation of blood cells from millilitre volumes of whole blood in minutes using a simple gravity sedimentation device. Blood cell and plasma separation is often the initial step in clinical diagnostics, and reliable separation techniques have remained a major obstacle for the success of point-of-care or remote diagnostics. Unlike plasma collection devices that rely solely on microchannels that restrict sample volume and throughput, we demonstrate the use of a hybrid micro/mesoscale sedimentation chamber to enable >99% capture of cells from millilitre blood samples in less than two minutes. We demonstrate the efficient separation of blood cells from millilitre volumes of whole blood in minutes using a simple gravity sedimentation device.