The objective of the proposed research is to illuminate the coupling between cell envelope phenotype and dielectric properties. This will be achieved by the investigation of pathogenic bacteria and electrochemically active bacteria. A three-dimensional insulator based dielectrophoresis (3DiDEP) device will be used. The novel 3DiDEP platform enables non-invasive sorting, trapping, and characterization of living cells based upon the cell envelope phenotype. The hypothesis of the work is that 3DiDEP can be used to characterize the functions expressed on the bacteria cell envelope. 3DiDEP enables low voltage, high sensitivity separation and analysis of cells. Also, the proposed 3DiDEP employs electrodes outside of the microchannel, the technique operates at low frequency or DC electric fields.
The proposed 3DiDEP is a powerful technique for high throughput phenotyping in microbiology. Phenotype based selection using 3DiDEP represents one of the first applications of microfluidics in the growing field of phenomics. The proposed project may also help to address widespread concerns in diverse fields ranging from renewable energy to healthcare. The PI also proposes to develop relationships with target universitis to increase the representation of underrepresented minorities in MIT graduate programs. The PI has outlined a unique approach to train a new generation of underrepresented minority scientists who may return to their respective undergraduate institutions as faculty, thereby attacking the diversity issue on both the student and faculty levels.
