An AC electroosmotic processor for biomolecules

This paper describes an AC electrokinetic processor for biomedical analysis systems. The processor exploits AC electroosmosis for concentrating bioparticles, such as cells and molecules. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to characterize the AC electroosmotic flow. A combination of the AC electroosmotic flow and other electrokinetic forces allows collection and concentration of the bioparticles. By optimizing the operating parameters, we have successfully demonstrated concentration of various biological objects, such as E. coli bacteria, /spl lambda/ phage DNA, and single-strand DNA fragments as small as 20 bases.