Broadband discrimination of living and dead lymphoma cells with a microwave interdigitated capacitor

This paper presents the possible discrimination of living and dead lymphoma cells with the use of a coplanar interdigitated capacitor with a microfluidic channel placed on top to well control the position of cells suspensions in interaction with the microwave electromagnetic field. Such a structure therefore permits the broadband dielectric spectroscopy of cells in their traditional culture medium and enables the clear discriminations of the two living and dead cells pathological states based on very distinct microwave signatures. This distinction may be performed not only through a capacitive contrast (with respect to their host culture medium), which is related to a variation of the real part of the cells permittivity, but also through a conductance contrast, which is due to a modification of the imaginary part of cells, depending on their states.