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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Label-free Isolation and Enrichment of Cells Through Contactless Dielectrophoresis
Published on: September 3, 2013
Selective isolation of live/dead cells using contactless dielectrophoresis (cDEP)
Hadi Shafiee1, Michael B Sano, Erin A Henslee
1Engineering Science and Mechanics Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. shafiee@vt.edu
Abstract:
Contactless dielectrophoresis (cDEP) is a recently developed method of cell manipulation in which the electrodes are physically isolated from the sample. Here we present two microfluidic devices capable of selectively isolating live human leukemia cells from dead cells utilizing their electrical signatures. The effect of different voltages and frequencies on the gradient of the electric field and device performance was investigated numerically and validated experimentally. With these prototype devices we were able to achieve greater than 95% removal efficiency at 0.2-0.5 mm s(-1) with 100% selectivity between live and dead cells. In conjunction with enrichment, cDEP could be integrated with other technologies to yield fully automated lab-on-a-chip systems capable of sensing, sorting, and identifying rare cells.
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