What is centrifugal elutriation?

Centrifugal elutriation was invented by Charles Lindberg in the 1930s. This technique continuously separates cells according to their sedimentation velocity using a specialized centrifuge rotor. A specialized rotor loads cells into a spinning elutriator chamber introducing an opposing directional buffer (opposite direction of centrifugal force) to fractionate the cells. Centrifugal elutriation is a gentle process that is faster than flow cytometry, quickly and efficiently processing large numbers of purified cells without chemical treating or labelling requirements.