Abstract

Microfluidic Concentration of Sample Solutes and Particles/Cells and Patterning of Particles using Temperature Gradient Focusing

Charles Yang Chun, Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University

Microfluidics has been developed over the past decade due to its promising applications in biotechnology, medicine, and chemistry. Towards these applications, enhancing detection sensitivity and resolution are needed to meet the detection limits because of the dilute sample solutions, ultra-small volumes and short detection length in microfluidic devices. In this talk I will focus on the use of temperature gradient focusing technique for sample pre-concentration. In particular, I will report our recently developed electrokinetic technique for improving temperature gradient focusing. I will demonstrate that with our proposed technique, we are able to concentrate sample solutes, DNAs and colloidal particles with high concentration enhancement factors. In addition, a comprehensive numerical model will be also presented to explain our experimental observations.