Optical bio-manipulation

Optically-induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) offers a cost-effective alternative to laser-based tweezers, enabling parallel manipulation of hundreds of micron-scale cells and high-throughput separation of nano-scale particles. Research teams have developed ODEP platforms demonstrating large-scale micro/nano-scale manipulation and discovered that pigmented cells can undergo self-induced rotational motion in a dielectrophoretic force field, which could serve as a bio-marker for separating pigmented and non-pigmented cells. The project aimed to use automation and digitally generated DEP forces for dynamic cell manipulation and to explore the potential of DEP-induced rotation as a bio-marking mechanism.