Development Of Dielectrophoresis Devices For Cell Manipulation

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to contribute on the design, fabrication and application of the dielectrophoresis (DEP) devices: (1) Two novel configurations of DEP devices, DEP device with 3D electrodes and asymmetric electrodes were proposed. (2) Numerical simulations have been built to explore the advantages of DEP devices with 3D electrodes and asymmetric electrodes, and the effects of geometry parameters of different electrode configurations on the motion of particles for DEP devices with 3D electrodes. A new sequential field-flow separation method in a DEP device with 3D electrodes has been proposed for separation of different population of cells. (3) The performances of fabricated DEP chips have been successfully tested by yeast cells. The mixture of viable and non-viable yeast cells has been successfully separated by sequential field-flow cell separation method using DEP chip with 3D electrodes and bidirectional separation in a dielectrophoretic chip with 3D electrode array.