Separation of bacteria in temperature gradient: micro-thermal focusing field-flow fractionation.

The separation of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Rhodococcus erythropolis bacteria was achieved with the use of Micro-Thermal Focusing Field-Flow Fractionation. This is the first performance of separation exploiting the Ludwig-Soret effect (thermal diffusion) of living biological cells, combined with lift forces and resulting in the focusing mechanism of separation. The experiments were carried out under carefully chosen experimental conditions preventing the denaturation of the bacteria.