Date of Award

Spring 2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Director

Ali Beskok

Committee Member

Shizhi Qian

Committee Member

Drew Landman

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56 R55 2013

Abstract

A major focus in the field of cell characterization is the quantification of cell dielectric properties in order to develop low-cost, portable microfluidic devices that can, among other things, perform point-of-care detection of rare diseases and complete blood counts. Impedance-based cytometry has become an advantageous tool to ascertain these properties, wherein it is important that cells pass through the same point in a channel cross-section one at a time to ensure accurate and repeatable readings. This study documents the assessment of an 8-loop 160 μm (W) x 80 μm (H) spiral microchannel used to focus 10 μm polystyrene particles. In addition, the distances between focused particles are measured in order to optimize measurement electrode geometries in future devices. Particles were observed through an inverted microscope via fluorescent illumination and photographed with a high-resolution digital SLR camera. Quantification of focusing effectiveness and separation distances versus varying flow rates and volume fractions was performed in MATLAB. Flow rate and volume fraction were shown to play strong roles in the focusing effectiveness and how the particles distribute themselves within the microchannel. The simple nature of the particle focusing ability of this device makes it an excellent candidate for integration into lab-on-a-chip impedance cytometers.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/mjpj-re88

Download

Share

COinS