(203e) Dielectric Characterization of Differentiated Human Stem Cells Using Dielectrophoresis Technique

Stem cell holds tremendous promise for medical treatments because of their multi-functionality and capacity to self-renew or differentiate into any adult cell type in the body. Undifferentiated stem cells have the potential to develop into cells that serves numerous function and differentiate to yield specialized cell types, which involves switching from proliferation to specialization, i.e., from unspecialized to specialized stem cells under known factors and conditions.

A limited ability to select homogenous populations of stem cells prior to initiating or following a differentiation protocol is a significant challenge for developing effective regenerative tissue engineering therapies and discovering new drugs. A novel way to identify a homogenous or differentiated stem cell population is by utilizing dielectrophoresis, an electrokinetic technique. Our central hypothesis is that the changes in cell membrane capacitance are an electrophysiological property of the plasma membrane that serves as a biomarker for stem cells, transmembrane cell-cell junction proteins, and the cytoskeleton of MSCs with adipogenically differentiation regulate dielectric parameters (conductivity, σ, and permittivity, ε), thus affecting the bioelectric signals of differentiated stem cells, that aid in the identification and selection of a homogenous or differentiated stem cell population affecting the dielectric response of the cells, which can be used for label-free sorting and improved stem cell differentiation process. This hypothesis is based on our preliminary data demonstrating the unique dielectric properties of Skin-derived Stem Cells (SDSCs), Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (IPSC), and Bone Marrow-derived stromal Stem Cells (BMSCs). We used the experimental crossover frequencies to investigate the behavior of the cells in a medium of known conductivity in the presence of a non-uniform field when cells transduce external signals into intracellular pathways. The short-term objective is to use the dielectrophoresis technique to characterize undifferentiated and differentiated stem cells. The long-term aim is to use the results to develop a label-free, rapid, high-throughput, and low-cost technology platform to select and enrich differentiated stem cells for advanced regenerative therapies.