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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 19, 2025

Label-free Isolation and Enrichment of Cells Through Contactless Dielectrophoresis

Label-free Isolation and Enrichment of Cells Through Contactless Dielectrophoresis

Published on: September 3, 2013

Selective Single-Cell Sorting Using a Multisectorial Electroactive Nanowell Platform.

Lukas Menze¹, Pedro A Duarte¹, Lacey Haddon²

¹Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada.

|September 24, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study introduces a novel microfluidic cell sorting platform using dielectrophoresis (DEP) to isolate rare cells. The innovative design enables high-accuracy sorting of multiple cell types, overcoming limitations of current technologies for clinical applications.

Keywords:

cell capture dielectrophoresis malignant cell sorting microfluidics nanowell point-of-care single-cell sorting

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Microfluidic Buffer Exchange for Interference-free Micro/Nanoparticle Cell Engineering

Microfluidic Buffer Exchange for Interference-free Micro/Nanoparticle Cell Engineering

Published on: July 10, 2016

Area of Science:

Biomedical Engineering
Cell Biology
Microfluidics

Background:

Targeted therapies require efficient isolation of rare cells.
Existing stream-based dielectrophoresis (DEP) cell sorters face scalability challenges with multiple cell types due to limited output channels.
Upscaling cell sorting for complex samples is a significant technical hurdle in clinical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a microfluidic platform for selective single-cell sorting that overcomes the limitations of conventional DEP cell sorters.
To demonstrate a novel approach for capturing a large number of different cell types without needing individual output channels per cell type.
To provide a versatile and simple solution for complex sample sorting in clinical environments.

Main Methods:

Development of a microfluidic platform featuring 10,000 nanoliter wells integrated with interdigitated electrodes (IDEs).
Implementation of a multisectorial design with 10 individually addressable IDE structures to facilitate dielectrophoresis-driven cell capture.
Utilizing a sectorial approach for differential cell capture, enabling sorting of complex samples without dedicated output channels for each cell type.

Main Results:

The platform demonstrated selective single-cell sorting capabilities, bypassing the channel-per-cell-type limitation.
Experimental validation using a mixed sample of benign (MCF-10A) and malignant (MDA-MB-231) breast cells achieved a target to non-target sorting accuracy exceeding 95%.
The sectorial design allowed for rapid and straightforward modification to sort complex samples.

Conclusions:

The developed microfluidic platform offers a scalable and versatile solution for single-cell isolation.
The high sorting accuracy and simplified design make it suitable for clinical applications requiring reliable sorting of complex biological samples.
This technology has the potential to advance targeted patient treatments by enabling efficient isolation of specific rare cells.