(392a) Bioparticle Separation in An Insulator-Based Dielectrophoretic Microchannel

A significant and wide-ranging body of work is focused on rapid bioparticle characterizations. Clinical diagnosis will be directly impacted by innovations in this field because it will enable rapid, on-site bioanalysis, improving the availability, accuracy, and scope for these tests. For bioparticle analysis, microfluidic electrokinetic approaches provide unique advantages, including short analysis times, microliter sample and reagent volumes, potentially low cost, and portability. The work presented here explores a separations-based strategy for isolating and concentrating intact microorganisms within a single, continuous microchannel.

Using DC insulator-based dielectrophoresis in a converging, sawtooth-patterned microchannel creates multiple and distinct bioparticles traps. This channel design enables localized isolation and concentration of a wide variety of microbes and other particles based characteristic differences in their physical properties. Various targets have been captured and concentrated within the device, including human blood cells and mature amyloid protein fibrils. Recent work has focused on using this approach to differentiate very similar targets, such as different strains of a single bacterial species. This approach has demonstrated the ability to distinguish three serotypes of live Escherichia coli, indicating the potential this technique holds in terms of both separatory power and diagnostic applications.