The research objective is to develop and validate an electrokinetic lab-on-chip for robust and rapid detection of low concentration bioparticle (eg. virus, bacteria, cells) in water, food and clinical samples. The research tackles the long-standing bottleneck issues of sensitivity and selectivity for such detection. The approach is: 1) to differentiate bioparticles by their response to electrokinetic transport based on various charge/mass ratio, 2) to rapidly enrich local particle concentration by expediting bioparticles' diffusion to sensors with convection, and 3) to quantify particle concentration by impedimetric measurement while incorporating electrokinetic signal amplification. The above functions are to be realized by asymmetric-polarization AC electro-osmosis, which is newly discovered and at the forefront of electrokinetic microfluidic research. Such lab-on- a-chip operates at small voltage with low power consumption, and its all electrical processes facilitate portability, parallelism and automation for on-site bioparticle detection. Bioparticle detection is of great significance because bioparticles often serve as carrier/indicator of pathogens and/or toxins. As the world becomes increasingly concerned with toxin/pathogenic contamination in food, water and environment from infectious diseases and bioterrorism, and because the threat of pathogen/toxins to societies could be substantially mitigated with early detection, the demand for rapid bioparticle detection is expanding for both civilian and military applications. The PI proposes a novel electrokinetic lab-on-a-chip to detect bioparticles at low concentrations. The research will not only lead to a practical detection chip but also afford students a unique opportunity to explore the state-of-art of interdisciplinary research in microsystem, bio/chemi/electronics and microfluidics.
