Biofluid pretreatment using gradient insulator-based dielectrophoresis: separating cells from biomarkers

Blood is one of the most important biofluids used for clinical diagnostics. Cells and proteins in the blood can provide a rich source of information for the evaluation of human health. Efficient separation of blood components is a necessary process in order to minimize the interference of unwanted components during sensing, separation, and detection. In this paper, an insulator-based gradient dielectrophoretic device has been applied to separate red blood cells from model protein biomarkers for myocardial infarction in buffer. Within one min, red blood cells are largely depleted regardless of the minimum adherence on the channel wall. Considering the adhered red blood cells will not be transported further, a purified protein solution can be delivered for potential downstream processing or detection.