Dielectrophoretic (dep) Cytometer: Label-free Electronic Sensing of Physiological Changes in Cells

We designed and developed a sensor that allows us to electronically monitor changes in physiological properties of biological cells. Based on the ability to simultaneously detect and dielectrophoretically (DEP) actuate cells, we can observe unique changes in the electronic detection signature that are directly related to polarizability of the cell. The important novel feature of this work is a differential electrode array that allows us to relate changes in the cell polarizability -– attributable to changes in physiological properties -to a simple measurable physical variable such as the amount of vertical cell translation during DEP actuation.