(258h) Insulator Based Dielectrophoresis: Dependence of Erythrocyte ABO Antigens

This research describes a micro-technology application quantifying the dependence of erythrocyte responses by ABO blood type via Direct Current insulator Dielectrophoresis (DC-iDEP). The DC-iDEP device utilized a 330 micron wide rectangular insulating obstacle in a 200 micron channel to create spatial non-uniformities in field density. Just past the insulating obstacle the main channel bifurcates into four outlet channels each 50 micron wide to achieve sorting based on individual erythrocyte deflection from the insulating obstacle. The device and insulating obstacle were fabricated with PDMS following a traditional soft-photolithography process. The PDMS device was sealed to a glass slide by plasma oxidation. The DC-iDEP particle flow behaviors were investigated with all 8 blood types (A+, A-, B+, B-, AB+, AB-, O+, and O-) in the human ABO blood typing system. Different conductivity buffers ranging from 10 to 900 mS/cm and electric fields from 17.12 to 68.5 V/cm were applied to investigate separation dependencies. An SVM microscope from LabSmith was used to capture video at 30 fps for 5 min. The data analysis was conducted with custom built software from Sandia Labs which takes image intensity profiles at locations prior to and in all four outlet channels. The resulting intensity profiles identify particle flow events in the channel at each position as a function of time. Erythrocyte concentration factors were estimated from the total intensities exhibited by a composite sum of cells in the 5 min experimental run. This lab-on-a-chip technology application could be applied to emergency situations, natural calamities, accidents, etc. for blood typing in an accurate, portable, and minimal error free way.