Ultrasonic standing wave manipulation technology integrated into a dielectrophoretic chip.

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Microfluidics
• Cellular Engineering

Background:

• Microfluidic systems demand simultaneous high-throughput and individual cell handling.
• Current tools excel at either high-precision individual particle manipulation or high-throughput ensemble handling, but not both.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a microfluidic chip capable of simultaneously achieving high-throughput and individual cell manipulation.
• To integrate ultrasonic standing waves (USWs) and dielectrophoresis (DEP) for contactless particle handling.

Main Methods:

• Combined USWs and DEP in a single microfluidic chip.
• Utilized competition between ultrasonic forces, dielectrophoretic forces, and fluidic drag.
• Integrated ultrasound transducer with a refractive element for microscopy compatibility.
• Employed co-planar microelectrodes for DEP generation.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated flexible and gentle elementary manipulation functions.
• Successfully integrated long-range USW forces with short-range DEP forces.
• Enabled continuous monitoring of biological processes via transmission light microscopy.

Conclusions:

• The developed hybrid USW-DEP microfluidic chip offers a novel solution for simultaneous high-throughput and precise cell manipulation.
• This technology has significant potential for advancing high-throughput biotechnology applications involving individual cells.