Isolation method of from red blood cells based on the optically induced dielectrophoresis technique for the rapid detection of fungal infections.

has been classically used to treat diarrhea and diarrhea-related diseases. However, in the past two decades, fungal infections caused by have been increasing among immunocompromised patients, and it takes too long to isolate from blood to diagnose it in time. In this paper, a new method for the isolation and selection of from red blood cells (RBC) is proposed by designing a microfluidic chip with an optically-induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) system. It was verified by theory and experiments that the magnitude and direction of the dielectrophoresis force applied on RBCs and are different, which determine that the can be isolated from RBCs by the ODEP system. By designing the specific light images and the dynamic separation mode, the optimal operating conditions were experimentally achieved for acquiring higher purity of . The purity ranges were up to 95.9%-97.3%. This work demonstrates a promising tool for efficient and effective purification of from RBCs and provides a novel method of isolation for the timely diagnosis of fungal infections.