Molecular dielectrophoresis of biopolymers

AC electrokinetics: applications for nanotechnology

“…Later work [Washizu et al 1994a] demonstrated the same technique with smaller DNA fragments and a laser, and to collect the cut fragments. This work demonstrated that the manipulation of single molecular-scale objects (albeit relatively large molecules) could be manipulated and, in conjunction with the same group's work on proteins [Washizu et al 1994], formed the foundations of sub-micrometre dielectrophoresis research.…”

Dielectrophoretic manipulation of rod-shaped viral particles

“…However, this simple argument does not take into account the extremely high electric fields that can be generated using micro-and nanofabricated electrode structures. Using such electrode structures, the dielectrophoretic trapping and manipulation of viruses, macromolecules and sub-micron latex particles has now been unequivocally demonstrated [9][10][11][12][13][14]. In this paper we show that it is possible to dielectrophoretically manipulate a rod-shaped virus, specifically tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) using nano-fabricated electrode arrays.…”

Dielectrophoretic Behavior of Latex Nanospheres: Low-Frequency Dispersion

“…However, it is only recently that dielectrophoresis has been applied to the study, manipulation and separation of nanometre scale particles such as nanowires (3,4), viruses (5-7), latex spheres (8,9) and macromolecules (10,11). The dielectrophoretic force exerted on a particle can positive (attractive) or negative (repulsive) depending on whether the particle is more or less polarisable than the medium; if the particle is exposed to an alternating (AC) electric field, then the magnitude and direction of the force will vary as a function of frequency according to the interplay of the charges both within and surrounding the particle.…”

“…The characteristic frequency at which this change occurs is commonly referred to as the crossover frequency. Analysis of the crossover frequency as a function of medium conductivity can be used to characterise the dielectric properties of a particle, and is at present the principal method of dielectrophoretic analysis of sub-micrometre particles such as latex beads (8)(9)(10)(11) and viruses (5-7).…”