Efficient dielectrophoretic cell enrichment using a DEP-well based system

Whilst laboratory-on-chip cell separation systems using dielectrophoresis are increasingly reported in the literature, most systems are afflicted by factors which impede “real world” performance, chief among these being cell loss (in dead spaces, attached to glass and tubing surfaces, or sedimentation from flow), and designs with large channel height-to-width ratios (large channel widths, small channel heights) that make the systems difficult to interface with other microfluidic systems. In this paper we present a scalable structure based on 3D wells with approximately unity height-to-width ratios (based on tubes with electrodes on the sides) which is capable of enriching yeast cell