(65d) Practical Platforms for High Throughput Sample Preparation Using 3D Carbon-Electrode Dielectrophoresis

The aim of this work is to develop electrokinetics-based practical platforms for a variety of applications including diagnostics, cell sorting and food safety. Therefore, the priority is on high throughput, high efficiency and user-friendliness.

The use of 3D carbon electrodes in dielectrophoresis leads to higher throughput in particle separation. 3D electrodes penetrating the bulk of the sample improve the throughput of DEP devices by minimizing the distance from a targeted particle to the closest electrode. Moreover, the use of 3D electrodes allows for the widening of the channel cross section, particularly its height, which inherently increases the processed sample volume per unit of time. Here we first present the technology development of 3D carbon-electrode DEP, from the low cost fabrication process of tall (>100 μm-high) carbon electrodes and their integration to robust microfluidics networks; to the inclusion of the DEP chips in two user-friendly portable platforms: one based on a syringe pump and another one based in centrifugal microfluidics. At last, results when using this technology in collaboration with different groups are presented and include a cell viability assay, cell selection and washing to improve sensitivity of PCR, enrichment of M. smegmatis towards better drugs to treat tuberculosis, DNA concentration and on-chip electrical lysis. Current work is on the separation of melanoma cells from lymphocytes.