A lab-on-a-chip for cell detection and manipulation

This paper presents a lab-on-a-chip for electronic manipulation and detection of microorganisms based on the use of closed dielectrophoretic (DEP) cages combined with impedance sensing. A prototype has been realized using a standard printed circuit board (PCB) technology by which polystyrene microbeads have been trapped, concentrated and quantitated, in agreement with CAD simulations, without the need for external optical components. The experiment was successfully repeated with S. cerevisiae. The approach is suited to be implemented in integrated circuit technology, which would allow to manipulate and detect single cells and reduce the system dimension.