Dielectrophoresis Microfluidic Enrichment Platform with Built-In Capacitive Sensor for Rare Tumor Cell Detection

• Published in: Biochip journal Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 114 - 122
• Main Authors: Do, Loc Quang, Thuy, Ha Tran Thi, Bui, Tung Thanh, Dau, Van Thanh, Nguyen, Ngoc-Viet, Duc, Trinh Chu, Jen, Chun-Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean BioChip Society (KBCS) 01.06.2018; Springer Nature B.V; 한국바이오칩학회
• Subjects: Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biotechnology; Cancer; Capacitance; Cells; Chambers; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dielectrophoresis; Electric fields; Electrodes; Gold; Integrated circuits; Lung carcinoma; Metabolic disorders; Microelectrodes; Microfluidics; Micromachining; Original Article; Polydimethylsiloxane; Sarcoma; Semiconductors; Sensitivity; Sensors; Tumor cell lines; Tumors; 생물공학; Dielectrophoresis (DEP) enrichment; Circulating tumor cell detection; Differential measurement; Capacitive sensor; Rare cells
• ISSN: 1976-0280; 2092-7843
• DOI: 10.1007/s13206-017-2204-x

The manipulation and detection of rare cells are important for many applications in early disease diagnosis and medicine. This study presents a dielectrophoresis (DEP) microfluidic enrichment platform combined with a built-in capacitive sensor for circulating tumor cell detection. The microchip is composed of a lollipop-shaped gold microelectrode structure under a polydimethylsiloxane chamber. A prototype of the device was fabricated using standard micromachining technology. With the proposed device, target cells (in this study, A549 non-small human lung carcinoma and S-180 sarcoma cell lines) are firstly guided toward the center of the working chamber via DEP forces. Then, the target cells are captured by an electrode immobilized by anti-EGFR, which has high affinity toward the target cells. After the cell concentration process, the differential capacitance is read to detect the presence of the target cells. Numerical simulations and measurement experiments were performed to demonstrate the high sensitivity of differential capacitive sensing. The obtained results show high sensitivity for S-180 cell detection (3 mV/cell). The proposed platform is suitable for rapid cancer diagnoses and other metabolic disease applications.