“Lab-on-a-Chip” Devices for Cellular Arrays Based on Dielectrophoresis

Dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based lab-on-a-chip devices represent a very appealing approach for cell manipulation and will enable laboratory testing to move from laboratories into nonlaboratory settings. DEP-based lab-on-a-chip platforms involve the miniaturization of several complex chemical and physical procedures in a single microchip-based device, allowing the identification and isolation of cell populations or single cells, separation of cells exhibiting different DEP properties, isolation of infected from uninfected cells, and viable from nonviable cells. In addition, DEP-arrays allow cellomics procedures based on the parallel manipulation of thousands of cells. Arrayed lab-on-a-chip platforms are also suitable to study cell-cell interactions and cell targeting with programmed numbers of microspheres.