Image-driven cell manipulation

Optoelectronic tweezers (OET) using ODEP forces were first demonstrated. It is now feasible to fabricate ODEP devices on flexible plastics. It is envisioned that the ODEP platform will become a promising tool for future biomedical applications. These newly developed ODEP devices are extremely useful for investigations at the single cell level. Several interesting examples using an ODEP platform have been reported. The first example is an optically induced microfluidic cytometer, which is capable of cell focusing, cell counting, and cell-sorting functions. The second example is a platform for continuous microparticle separation, which is useful in the preparation of samples for many biomedical protocols. The last example is an optically induced cell lysis device. This device can disrupt an individual cell within a group of cells. These three examples are briefly reviewed here.