Separation of white blood cells from erythrocytes on a dielectrophoresis (DEP) based ‘Lab-on-a-chip’ device

The 'Lab-on-a-chip technology' involves miniaturisation of complex analytical procedures and is expected to enable laboratory testing to move from the central laboratory employing complex equipment into non-laboratory settings. We report the application of a printed circuit board (PCB)-based chip, generating dielectrophoretic (DEP)-based cylinder-shaped cages for separation and recovery of white blood cells from erythrocytes. This possibility is of interest to develop low-cost Lab-on-a-chip devices for diagnostic purposes. Accordingly, we demonstrate that white blood cells recovered from this Lab-on-a-chip device are suitable for PCR-based molecular diagnosis procedures employing DNA sequencing or biospecific interaction analysis using surface plasmon resonance and biosensor technology.