Portable dielectrophoresis for biology: ADEPT facilitates cell trapping, separation, and interactions

Dielectrophoresis is a powerful and well-established technique that allows label-free, non-invasive manipulation of cells and particles by leveraging their electrical properties. The practical implementation of the associated electronics and user interface in a biology laboratory, however, requires an engineering background, thus hindering the broader adoption of the technique. In order to address these challenges and to bridge the gap between biologists and the engineering skills required for the implementation of DEP platforms, we report here a custom-built, compact, universal electronic platform termed ADEPT (adaptable dielectrophoresis embedded platform tool) for use with a simple microfluidic chip containing six microelectrodes. The versatility of the open-source platform is ensured by a custom-developed graphical user interface that permits simple reconfiguration of the control signals to address a wide-range of specific applications: (i) precision positioning of the single bacterium/cell/particle in the micrometer range; (ii) viability-based separation by achieving a 94% efficiency in separating live and dead yeast; (iii) phenotype-based separation by achieving a 96% efficiency in separating yeast and Bacillus subtilis; (iv) cell-cell interactions by steering a phagocytosis process where a granulocyte engulfs E. coli RGB-S bacterium. Together, the set of experiments and the platform form a complete basis for a wide range of possible applications addressing various biological questions exploiting the plug-and-play design and the intuitive GUI of ADEPT.