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MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
EECS Event |
Wednesday, April 18, 2001
1:30 PM (refreshments 1:15)
Grier Room, Room 34-401A
EECS Special Seminar
Abstract
Microfabrication technology promises to have many applications for studying individual biological cells due to their similar size scales. This talk will focus on one application - the use of microfabricated dielectrophoretic (DEP) traps for manipulating multiple single cells. Dielectrophoresis - the force on polarizable bodies in non-uniform electric fields - can be used to create potential energy wells to stably confine individual cells. Many such traps, arranged in a planar array, form a cytometer that can interrogate many individual cells simultaneously.
This talk will present the development of high-performance DEP traps for such a cytometer. High-performance traps, which hold cells strongly against flow, are needed to fulfill the requirements of this cytometer. The design of such traps necessitates the development of quantitative modeling tools that can predict trap performance. The innovative trap design resulting from this modeling will be presented, as well as experimental results from a small array of these high-performance traps. Finally,future applications of DEP-based particle traps will be discussed.