Detection of imatinib resistance in K562 leukemia cells by 3D-electrode contactless dielectrophoresis

This paper presents the trapping of imatinib resistant K562 (human chronic myelogenic leukemia (CML), K562/IMA) cells with 3D-electrode contactless dielectrophoresis (DEP). 3D electrodes are isolated from the solution by means of uniform thin parylene layer (~0.3μm), to eliminate the Joule heating, electrolysis, and cell damaging. 3D electrodes (extruded along the microchannel in z-axis) provide uniform distribution of DEP force along the channel height, improving the separation efficiency, significantly. It is verified that the system is capable of trapping K562/IMA cells at a concentration of 6.25×10⁵/ml and 10 μl/min flow rate by applying 9 V_pp sinusoidal signal at 48.64 MHz. No trapping occurs for K562 sensitive cells at the same experimental conditions.