(250t) Toward the Design of a Multi-Module Fluidic Device for the Simultaneous Detection of Lyme Disease and Babesiosis

In our previous work on the dielectrophoretic separation of Babesia-infected erythrocytes from its mixture with healthy ones, we leveraged the pathogenesis and clinical courses of both Babesia and Plasmodium to theorize their interchangeable electrophysiological properties, which were used to simulate the trajectory of the Babesia-infected erythrocytes in a 1.4mm long fluidic device. When the Trends in Parasitology released one of its issues in 2015, it clearly reported some statistical events which showed that 40% of patients with Babesia-infected erythrocytes are not mutually exclusive with patients who were infected with Borrelia-the main cause of Lyme disease. This sets the diagnostic activities of these pathogens out for both deterministic and stochastic considerations. A foundational necessity is the characterization of these pathogens. This work, therefore, focuses on the characterization of Babesia-infected erythrocytes in a perpendicularly arranged electrode pair of 75 µm inter-electrode spacing sizably contained in a PDMS-constructed micro well. Trapping and streaming activities at 8Vpp and various frequencies, which led to the determination of the cross-over frequencies at various buffer conductivities were observed and recorded. Curve fitting procedure for these data (crossover frequency v. buffer conductivity) led to the estimation of both shell and cytoplasmic electrical parameters. Ongoing work will characterize Borrelia.