Here, we report on an enrichment protocol using carbon electrode dielectrophoresis to isolate and purify a targeted cell population from sample volumes up to 4 ml. We aim at trapping, washing, and recovering an enriched cell fraction that will facilitate downstream analysis. We used an increasingly diluted sample of yeast, 10 6 -10 2 cells/ml, to demonstrate the isolation and enrichment of few cells at increasing flow rates. A maximum average enrichment of 154.2 6 23.7 times was achieved when the sample flow rate was 10 ll/min and yeast cells were suspended in low electrically conductive media that maximizes dielectrophoresis trapping. A COMSOL Multiphysics model allowed for the comparison between experimental and simulation results. Discussion is conducted on the discrepancies between such results and how the model can be further improved. Published by AIP Publishing.

Isolation and enrichment of cells from a diluted sample is necessary for different clinical applications. Here we have demonstrated the use of 3D carbon electrode dielectrophoresis (DEP) to process a diluted yeast sample featuring concentration as low as 10 2 cells/ml. The yeast cells in the sample were first trapped on carbon electrodes by implementing positive DEP force and then released concentrated in a small volume of clean buffer. The maximum limit of the cell trapping for our device was found to be around 4000 cells. Using 10 µl/min, an enrichment of 154.2 ± 23.7 folds was achieved, where sample of 10 2 cells/ml concentration was enriched up to 4 X 10 4 cells/ml. Upon increasing the flow rate up to 30 µl/min, the enrichment dropped down to 18.4 ± 4 folds due to the increase of drag force, though the enriched concentration around 10 4 cells/ml was still achieved.