Julius Lourdes Albina Nirupa, Akgül Dora, Krishnan Gowri, Falk Fabian, Korvink Jan, Badilita Vlad
Department, Institute of Microstructure Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, 76344 Baden-Württemberg Germany.
Microsyst Nanoeng. 2024 Mar 1;10:29. doi: 10.1038/s41378-024-00654-z. eCollection 2024.
Dielectrophoresis is a powerful and well-established technique that allows label-free, non-invasive manipulation of cells and particles by leveraging their electrical properties. The practical implementation of the associated electronics and user interface in a biology laboratory, however, requires an engineering background, thus hindering the broader adoption of the technique. In order to address these challenges and to bridge the gap between biologists and the engineering skills required for the implementation of DEP platforms, we report here a custom-built, compact, universal electronic platform termed ADEPT (adaptable dielectrophoresis embedded platform tool) for use with a simple microfluidic chip containing six microelectrodes. The versatility of the open-source platform is ensured by a custom-developed graphical user interface that permits simple reconfiguration of the control signals to address a wide-range of specific applications: (i) precision positioning of the single bacterium/cell/particle in the micrometer range; (ii) viability-based separation by achieving a 94% efficiency in separating live and dead yeast; (iii) phenotype-based separation by achieving a 96% efficiency in separating yeast and ; (iv) cell-cell interactions by steering a phagocytosis process where a granulocyte engulfs bacterium. Together, the set of experiments and the platform form a complete basis for a wide range of possible applications addressing various biological questions exploiting the plug-and-play design and the intuitive GUI of ADEPT.
介电泳是一种强大且成熟的技术，它通过利用细胞和颗粒的电学特性，实现对它们进行无标记、非侵入性的操控。然而，在生物学实验室中实际应用相关电子设备和用户界面需要工程背景知识，这阻碍了该技术的更广泛应用。为了应对这些挑战并弥合生物学家与介电泳平台实施所需工程技能之间的差距，我们在此报告一种定制的、紧凑的通用电子平台，称为ADEPT（自适应介电泳嵌入式平台工具），它可与一个包含六个微电极的简单微流控芯片配合使用。该开源平台的多功能性由一个定制开发的图形用户界面来保证，该界面允许简单地重新配置控制信号，以满足广泛的特定应用：（i）在微米范围内对单个细菌/细胞/颗粒进行精确定位；（ii）通过实现94%的活酵母和死酵母分离效率进行基于活力的分离；（iii）通过实现96%的酵母和[此处原文缺失内容]分离效率进行基于表型的分离；（iv）通过引导粒细胞吞噬细菌的吞噬过程来实现细胞间相互作用。总之，这一系列实验和平台构成了一个完整的基础，可用于利用ADEPT的即插即用设计和直观图形用户界面解决各种生物学问题的广泛可能应用。
