Media.Player

Floating electrode dielectrophoresis (Technion)

Summary

The present invention relates to the use of electrically floating electrodes for the dielectrophoretic (DEP) manipulation of bioparticles.
The separation of biofluids to their various constituents has been a medical challenge for decades. Diagnostics and clinical research require isolated cell lines, specific proteins and additional unique biological substances (e.g., DNA). Current separation techniques, such as labeling techniques and centrifugation, necessitate very expensive instrumentation. Therefore, research is on the way for replacing these techniques with cheap, microelectronics based and disposable devices (lab-on-a-chip).
Dielectrophoresis is the motion of neutral particles exposed to a nonuniform alternating current electric field. In practice, DEP devices are based on micropatterned electrodes. When subjected to applied voltages, the electrodes generate nonuniform electric fields that are necessary for the DEP manipulation of particles. DEP forces are highly phenotype selective and have been extensively exploited to manipulate a wide range of biological particles.
Current DEP devices have two key shortcomings. They have multiple interconnects, which limits their miniaturization. Also, they are fabricated with several layers of metallization and electric insulation, which makes them complex and costly. As a result, although DEP is a very promising technique, DEP devices are not commercially used at the moment.
feDEP is an enabling technology that offers a significant leap towards cheap, disposable and therefore commercially available DEP devices. DEP devices fabricated with many floating electrodes will have fewer interconnects to external signal sources. Therefore, the use of floating electrodes will considerably facilitate device fabrication and operation, as well as reduce device dimensions and offer interconnect free devices. Also, since floating electrodes do not require an external connection their geometries are much more flexible. This opens a doorway for using feDEP in cellular patterning and in tissue engineering.
This technology has been successfully applied in the manipulation of red blood cells. Additional applications in medicine, diagnostics and research may be developed based on the technology described. The worldwide lab-based hematology market was estimated to be $1.3 billion in 2005, with about 100M blood count tests performed per year worldwide.

ID No.

RES-0837

Country/Region

Israel