Dielectrophoretic separation of colorectal cancer cells

Separation of colorectal cancer cells from other biological materials is important for stool-based diagnosis of colorectal cancer. In this paper, we use conventional dielectrophoresis in a microfluidic chip to manipulate and isolate HCT116 colorectal cancer cells. It is noticed that at a particular alternating current frequency band, the HCT116 cells are clearly deflected to a side channel from the main channel after the electric activation of an electrode pair. This motion caused by negative dielectrophoresis can be used to simply and rapidly separate cancer cells from other cells. In this manuscript, we report the chip design, flow conditions, dielectrophoretic spectrum of the cancer cells, and the enrichment factor of the colorectal cancer cells from other cells.