Integration of microfluidic devices and an optically-induced dielectrophoresis device for medium replacement and cell manipulation/separation

Optically-induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) has been widely used for manipulation of micro particles and cells. However, it requires a complicate medium replacement process before one could manipulate cells. For instance, 0.2M sucrose was used to generate enough ODEP forces for cell manipulation when the cells could be centrifuged to get rid of the original solution Dulbecco´s modified eagle medium (DMEM). In this work, we demonstrated an integration of microfluidic devices on an ODEP device such that the critical medium replacement process can be automated and the cells could be subsequently manipulated using optical images. It provides a platform for fast replacement of cell medium for cell manipulation and separation.