Arrayed specific t-cell monitor via immuno-capture under weak-DEP Enhancement

This paper proposes using a weak DEP field, gently guiding the cells in the suspension to interact uniformly with the bio-probes immobilized on the PVDF substrate in the reactor. Due to the concentrating effect of the weak DEP field, together with relative-large reaction area, the cell-capture efficiency can be improved 4 folds compared with that without DEP enhancement. The visibility of the specific T-cells was also realized via QDs/tetramer staining. In consequence, the captured cells can be fluorescence imaged and counted by image processor. This assay has been successively used to detect the rare specific Tc cell in human blood sample, which recognize and destroy the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Preliminary results show that the capture efficiency of the DEP + cell capture technique is as good as around 40%.