Digital microfluidic platform for dielectrophoretic patterning of cells encapsulated in hydrogel droplets

Nestor, Bret; Samiei, Ehsan; Samanipour, Roya; Gupta, Ashok Kumar; Berg, Andre Van den; Derby, María Díaz de León; Wang, Zhong; Nejad, Hojatollah Rezaei; Hoorfar, Mina

doi:10.1039/c6ra10412f

Cited by 37 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In this study, only the variable is important as it has a direct influence on amount of DEP force, as demonstrated in equation (1). Furthermore, all other terms of equation 1are constant for this specific study, except ∇ 2 term.…”

Section: Computational Modelingmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…The electric force can manipulate charged particles, which is called electrophoresis, or it can manipulate uncharged particles, which is called dielectrophoresis (DEP). DEP has been used by researchers for different applications such as cell patterning [1], trapping [2,3], focusing [4], enrichment [5], separation [6] and isolation [7,8]. DEP can separate the cells based on their electrical properties (electrical conductivity and permittivity) and size.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterization Of The Electrodes Of DEP-Based Micro-Separator

Dalili¹,

Taatizadeh²,

Hoorfar³

2018

Progress in Canadian Mechanical Engineering

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In recent years, advances in lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices has led to separation, sorting and manipulation of cells and particles on miniaturized devices. Among the different mechanisms that have been used in this regard, dielectrophoresis (DEP) offers high controllability on the particles, provides high throughput, and is tunable. Due to these advantages, DEP is used in this paper for the design of a microseparator. To optimize the geometry of such a separator, COMSOL Multiphysics® is used to simulate the electric field with the goal of achieving the highest performance in cell separation. For a DEP-based micro-separator, two inclined rectangle planar electrodes are considered. The effect of the width of each one of these electrodes as well as the gap between them on the DEP force is investigated to find the optimum design.

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Section: Computational Modelingmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization Of The Electrodes Of DEP-Based Micro-Separator

Dalili¹,

Taatizadeh²,

Hoorfar³

2018

Progress in Canadian Mechanical Engineering

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“…Physical and mechanical effects were also investigated for single-particle or single-cell trapping on DMF. For example, combining the function of gravity with the trapping geometry effect of negative dielectrophoresis, several research groups have realized single-particle or single-cell patterning on DMF [22][23][24] . However, all of these methods were used on a flat electrode surface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A digital microfluidic system with 3D microstructures for single-cell culture

Zhai

Wong

et al. 2020

Microsyst Nanoeng

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Despite the precise controllability of droplet samples in digital microfluidic (DMF) systems, their capability in isolating single cells for long-time culture is still limited: typically, only a few cells can be captured on an electrode. Although fabricating small-sized hydrophilic micropatches on an electrode aids single-cell capture, the actuation voltage for droplet transportation has to be significantly raised, resulting in a shorter lifetime for the DMF chip and a larger risk of damaging the cells. In this work, a DMF system with 3D microstructures engineered on-chip is proposed to form semiclosed micro-wells for efficient single-cell isolation and long-time culture. Our optimum results showed that approximately 20% of the micro-wells over a 30 × 30 array were occupied by isolated single cells. In addition, lowevaporation-temperature oil and surfactant aided the system in achieving a low droplet actuation voltage of 36V, which was 4 times lower than the typical 150 V, minimizing the potential damage to the cells in the droplets and to the DMF chip. To exemplify the technological advances, drug sensitivity tests were run in our DMF system to investigate the cell response of breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) and breast normal cells (MCF-10A) to a widely used chemotherapeutic drug, Cisplatin (Cis). The results on-chip were consistent with those screened in conventional 96well plates. This novel, simple and robust single-cell trapping method has great potential in biological research at the single cell level.

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“…Besides, DEP has shown promising high-throughput capabilities with reported throughputs of 5,000 cells per second 16 , 10,000 cells per second 17 , and more recently 170,000 cells per second 18 . These advantages have attracted researchers towards the use of DEP for a range of applications such as cell patterning 19 , trapping 20 , focusing 21 , enrichment 22 , separation 23 , and isolation 24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parametric study on the geometrical parameters of a lab-on-a-chip platform with tilted planar electrodes for continuous dielectrophoretic manipulation of microparticles

Dalili

Taatizadeh

Tahmooressi

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Advances in lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices have led to significant improvements in the on-chip manipulation, separation, sorting, and isolation of particles and cells. Among various Loc-based approaches such as inertia-based methods, acoustophoresis, and magnetophoresis, the planarslanted-electrode dielectrophoresis (Dep) method has demonstrated great potential as a label-free, cost-effective, and user-friendly approach. However, the devices built based on this method suffer from low flow throughput compared to devices functioning based on other LOC-based manipulation approaches. in order to overcome this obstacle, the geometrical parameters of these types of DEP-based devices must be studied to increase the effectiveness of DEP manipulation. With the consideration of both numerical and experimental studies, this paper studies the geometrical factors of a Loc platform consisting of tilted planar electrodes with the goal of achieving higher throughput in continuous manipulation of polystyrene particles. coMSoL Multiphysics software was used to study the effect of the electrodes geometry on the induced electric field. The simulation results show that by increasing the electrode's width and decreasing the electrode's spacing, higher Dep force is generated. furthermore, the experimental outcomes indicated that lower channel height, higher voltage, and larger particle size resulted in the most improvement to Dep manipulation. Additionally, the experimental results demonstrated that slanted electrodes with an angle of 8° with respect to the direction of flow provide a more effective configuration. Cell manipulation, as a preliminary step for cell-based analysis, is a rapidly growing area of interdisciplinary research for the development of single-cell technologies. Over the past two decades, single-cell manipulation and analysis methods have improved significantly due to advances in microfluidic cell manipulation methods 1,2. These methods can be broadly categorized as either passive or active. The passive methods, including microfiltration 3 , inertia-based 4 , contraction-expansion channels 5 , deterministic lateral displacement 6 , and pinched flow fractionation 7 , do not rely on any external forces. On the other hand, the active methods, such as dielectrophoresis (DEP) 8 , magnetophoresis 9 , acoustophoresis 10 , and optical-based manipulation 11 , require an external force to manipulate the cells/particles. Although passive methods can handle higher flow rates, active methods offer more control over cells/particles, real-time tuning, reliability, and higher manipulation efficiency 12-14 .

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Digital microfluidic platform for dielectrophoretic patterning of cells encapsulated in hydrogel droplets

Cited by 37 publications

References 44 publications

Characterization Of The Electrodes Of DEP-Based Micro-Separator

Characterization Of The Electrodes Of DEP-Based Micro-Separator

A digital microfluidic system with 3D microstructures for single-cell culture

Parametric study on the geometrical parameters of a lab-on-a-chip platform with tilted planar electrodes for continuous dielectrophoretic manipulation of microparticles

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