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Here, a simple and low-cost cell mixing device (CMD) is presented; the device is designed to prevent the sedimentation of cells in a syringe during their injection into a microfluidic channel. The CMD is based on a slider crank device made of 3D-printed parts that, combined with a permanent magnet, actuate a stir bar placed into the syringe containing the cells. By using A549 cell lines, the device is characterized in terms of cell viability (higher than 95%) in different mixing conditions, by varying the oscillation frequency and the overall mixing time. Then, a dedicated microfluidic experiment is designed to evaluate the injection frequency of the cells within a microfluidic chip. In the presence of the CMD, a higher number of cells are injected into the microfluidic chip with respect to the static conditions (2.5 times), proving that it contrasts cell sedimentation and allows accurate cell handling. For these reasons, the CMD can be useful in microfluidic experiments involving single-cell analysis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s24155014","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,2]],"date-time":"2024-08-02T16:14:58Z","timestamp":1722615298000},"page":"5014","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Magnetic Stirring Device for Limiting the Sedimentation of Cells inside Microfluidic Devices"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6416-5782","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sebastian","family":"Cremaschini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"given":"Noemi","family":"Torriero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"given":"Chiara","family":"Maceri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Poles","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, University of Verona, 37124 Verona, Italy"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Cleve","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-4987-0377","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beatrice","family":"Crestani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"given":"Alessio","family":"Meggiolaro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8973-0338","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matteo","family":"Pierno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3426-5475","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giampaolo","family":"Mistura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3279-9000","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paola","family":"Brun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, 35121 Padua, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6760-7988","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Davide","family":"Ferraro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"368","DOI":"10.1038\/nature05058","article-title":"The Origins and the Future of Microfluidics","volume":"442","author":"Whitesides","year":"2006","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1094","DOI":"10.1039\/b706364b","article-title":"Microfluidic Platforms for Lab-on-a-Chip Applications","volume":"7","author":"Haeberle","year":"2007","journal-title":"Lab Chip"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bai, Y., Gao, M., Wen, L., He, C., Chen, Y., Liu, C., Fu, X., and Huang, S. 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