Optically-induced dielectrophoresis using polymer materials for biomedical applications

This paper briefly demonstrates three kinds of microfluidic modules by using a polymer-based optically-induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) platform. Polymer materials with excellent optoelectronic efficiency can be mass-produced at room temperature using a spin-coating process. This approach can easily facilitate the mass-fabrication process of the ODEP chip. The first function presented in this platform is a cell lysis device. Experimental result shows that it can selectively lyse a single cell within a group of cells, which is a function cannot be performed using traditional tools. Besides, the function that selectively disrupts the cell membrane without damaging the nucleus can also be achieved. Second, an optically-induced flow cytometry is reported, which enables one to continuously count and to sort microparticles based on the ODEP forces. No complicated fabrication process is needed to achieve the cytometry function. The particles can be focused by the ODEP forces and detect through a pair of optical fibers embedded into fiber channels in real time. Third, a new method which can quickly separate micro-particles with different sizes using this platform is demonstrated. Three operation modes including light wavelength, light intensity and light width are successfully used to separate the microparticles with a high-throughput. The developed polymer-based ODEP platform can be widely applied in biomedical research.