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Electrokinetics of Cells in Dielectrophoretic Separation: A Biological Perspective

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Abstract

Separation of biological cells from the mixture has been studied over a period of time in medicine and basic environmental research. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is one among the portable techniques to separate the cells with minimum requirements such as electric field and effective medium. With the advent of BioMEMS, the understanding of dielectric characteristics of various biological cells has become imperative. Dielectric properties of the biological cells are studied by the extensive involvement of bioelectrokinetics with respect to the electric field. This has led to the accumulation of data on properties of cells, particularly with respect to dielectrophoresis (DEP). This article reviews the bioelectrokinetics of biological cells and how they are exploited in cell separation using DEP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India

    U. Vidhya Devi & M. Ananthasubramanian

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, BITS Pilani, Rajasthan, India

    Paridhi Puri & N. N. Sharma

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  1. U. Vidhya Devi
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Devi, U.V., Puri, P., Sharma, N.N. et al. Electrokinetics of Cells in Dielectrophoretic Separation: A Biological Perspective. BioNanoSci. 4, 276–287 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-014-0140-y

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