Guérin N., Lévesque M., Therriault D.
École Polytechnique de Montréal, CA
Keywords: cell separator, dielectrophoresis, direct write, helix
Many biomedical procedures necessitating the separation of cells would benefit from the miniaturization of cell separators. This miniaturization effort has led to the development of 2D dielectrophoretic separators. The use of a 3D dielectrophoretic cell separator presents many advantages over the reported 2D devices such as a constant dielectrophoretic force and a maintained efficiency for long-channelled devices. The proposed device uses an innovative helical shape and is fabricated using the novel direct-write spindle deposition technique. In this technique, a filament is deposited by a computer controlled pneumatic piston onto a rotating spindle. Once encapsulated, these helical-shaped filaments are removed to leave channels in the encapsulating medium. The helices are connected to inlet and outlet reservoirs to form a finished separator. This novel technique allows the fabrication of efficient 3D separators. When a voltage is applied between the reservoirs, electrokinesis and dielectrophoresis combine to transport and separate particles according to their electrical properties. Separation experiments will be performed with polystyrene microbeads to confirm the advantageous nature of the helical-shaped separator.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2013: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational (Volume 2)
Published: May 12, 2013
Pages: 150 - 153
Industry sector: Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: MEMS & NEMS Devices, Modeling & Applications
ISBN: 978-1-4822-0584-8