Induced charge electro-osmotic particle separation

Vortex-based separation is a promising method in particle-particle separation and has only been demonstrated theoretically some years ago. To date, a continuous-flow separation device based on vortices has not been conceived because many known vortices were either unstable or controlling them lacked precision. Electro-convection from induced charge electro-osmosis (ICEO) has advantages, such as adjustable flow profiles, long-range actuation, and long-lived vortices, and offers an alternative means of particle separation. We found though a different ICEO focusing behaviour of particles whereby particles were trapped and concentrated in two vortex cores. Encouraged by these features of ICEO vortices, we proposed a direct method for particle separation in continuous flow. In various experiments, we first characterized the ICEO-induced focusing performances of various kinds of particle samples in a straight channel embedded with an individual central bipolar electrode, presenting a justifiable explanation. Second, the combined dependences of ICEO particle separation on the sample size and mass density were investigated. Third, an application to cell purification was performed in which we obtained a purity surpassing 98%. Finally, we investigated the ICEO characteristics of nanoparticles, exploiting our method in isolating nanoscale objects by separating 500 nm and 5 m polystyrene beads, gaining clear separation. Certain features of this method, such as having ease of operation, simple structure, and continuous flow, and being prefocusing free and physical property-based, indicate its good potential in tackling environmental monitoring, cell sorting, chemical analysis, isolation of uniform-sized graphene and transesterification of micro-algal lipids to biodiesel

Microparticle separation using asymmetrical induced-charge electro-osmotic vortices on an arc-edge-based floating electrode

Five arc-shaped gaps were designed on the bipolar electrode to actuate alternately opposite-direction asymmetrical induced-charge electro-osmosis (AICEO) vortices, and we developed a microfluidic device using such asymmetrical vortices to realize particle separation. When the buoyancy force dominates in the vertical direction, particles stay at the channel bottom, experiencing a left deflection under the vortices in the convex arc areas. In contrast, when the levitation force induced by AICEO vortices overcomes the buoyancy force, particles are elevated to a high level and captured by right vortices, undergoing a right deflection under the vortices in the concave arc areas. Moreover, when particles pass through the concave or convex arc areas every time, their right or left deflections are enlarged gradually and the separation becomes more complete. Remarkably, as the light/small particles at low voltage, heavy/large particles can be elevated to a new high level and undergo right deflection by increasing the voltage. We first explicitly proved the separation principle and analyzed numerically its capability in density- and size-based separation. Depending on the study of the voltage-dependent AICEO characterization of 4 mu m silica and 4 mu m PMMA particles, we experimentally verified the feasibility of our device in density-based separation. According to the investigation of sensitivity to particle size, we separated multi-sized yeast cells to confirm the capability of our device in size-based separation. Finally, we extracted yeast cells from impeding particles, obtaining 96% purity. Additionally, we designed a 500 mu m distance between the focusing and separation region to circumvent the problems caused by electric-field interaction. Our AICEO-based separation method holds potential to serve as a useful tool in transesterification of microalgal lipids to biodiesel and solar cell processing because of its outstanding advantages, such as gentle conditions, contact-free separation, high-sensitivity and high-efficiency separation capability

An efficient micromixer actuated by induced-charge electroosmosis using asymmetrical floating electrodes

Efficient microfluid mixing is an important process for various microfluidic-based biological and chemical reactions. Herein we propose an efficient micromixer actuated by induced-charge electroosmosis (ICEO). The microchannel of this device is easy to fabricate for its simple straight channel structure. Importantly, unlike previous design featuring complicated three-dimensional conducting posts, we utilize the simpler asymmetrical planar floating-electrodes to induce asymmetrical microvortices. For evaluating the mixing performance of this micromixer, we conducted a series of simulations and experiments. The mixing performance was quantified using the mixing index, specifically, the mixing efficiency can reach 94.7% at a flow rate of 1500 mu m/s under a sinusoidal wave with a peak voltage of 14 V and a frequency of 400 Hz. Finally, we compared this micromixer with different micromixing devices using a comparative mixing index, demonstrating that this micromixer remains competitive among these existing designs. Therefore, the method proposed herein can offer a simple solution for efficient fluids mixing in microfluidic systems

A Chromodomain-Helicase-DNA-Binding Factor Functions in Chromatin Modification and Gene Regulation

International audienceProteins in the Chromodomain-Helicase/ATPase-DNA-binding domain (CHD) family are divided into three groups. The function of group I CHD proteins in nucleosome positioning is well established, while that of group II members (represented by CHD3/Mi2) remains unclear. Using high-throughput approaches, we investigated the function of the group II rice (Oryza sativa) CHD protein CHR729 in nucleosome positioning, gene expression, histone methylation, and binding. Our data revealed that thechr729mutation led to increased nucleosome occupancy in the rice genome and altered the expression and histone H3K4me3 modification of many, mainly underexpressed, genes. Further analysis showed that the mutation affected both the deposition and depletion of H3K4me3 in distinct chromatin regions, with concomitant changes in H3K27me3 modification. Genetic and genomic analyses revealed that CHR729 and JMJ703, an H3K4 demethylase, had agonistic, antagonistic, and independent functions in modulating H3K4me3 and the expression of subsets of genes. In addition, CHR729 binding was enriched in H3K4me3-marked genic and H3K27me3-marked intergenic regions. The results indicate that CHR729 has distinct functions in regulating H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 modifications and gene expression at different chromatin domains and provide insight into chromatin regulation of bivalent genes marked by both H3K4me3 and H3K27me3.The chromodomain-helicase-DNA-binding factor CHR729 regulates nucleosome positioning and histone modification to control the expression of poised genes in rice

Effect of vortex on mass transport and mixing in microcapillary channels

We present a combined numerical and experimental study of a novel design for a vortex-based mixer by virtue of easy insertion of inlet tubes into a capillary-based square channel. We show that, as the Reynolds number (Re) increases above 72, different patterns of vortices develop by changing the inlet configuration. At relatively higher Re, we observe that the disturbance posed by a vortex on the contact surface is not only dependent on its vorticity, but also correlates with the direction of vortex/vortex pair. As a consequence, recognition and application of suitable vortex pattern is of great importance for mixing enhancement. The designed mixer under four inflow confluence conditions, producing single vortex or vortex pair with different directions, shows different mixing performance in the Re range from 20 to 280, from which the optimum design approach capable of generating counter-rotating vortex pair along the outflow direction with higher mixing quality is found. This explains the mass transport and mixing observed in fluid flows with a vortex, which to date has not been studied before

Continuously Electrotriggered Core Coalescence of Double-Emulsion Drops for Microreactions

Microfluidically generated double emulsions are promising templates for microreactions, which protect the reaction from external disturbance and enable in vitro analyses with large-scale samples. Controlled combination of their inner droplets in a continuous manner is an essential requirement toward truly applications. Here, we first generate dual-cored double-emulsion drops with different inner encapsulants using a capillary microfluidic device; next, we transfer the emulsion drops into another electrode-integrated polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic device and utilize external AC electric field to continuously trigger the coalescence of inner cores inside these emulsion drops in continuous flow. Hundreds of thousands of monodisperse microreactions with nanoliter-scale reagents can be conducted using this approach. The performance of core coalescence is investigated as a function of flow rate, applied electrical signal, and core conductivity. The coalescence efficiency can reach up to 95%. We demonstrate the utility of this technology for accommodating microreactions by analyzing an enzyme catalyzed reaction and by fabricating cell-laden hydrogel particles. The presented method can be readily used for the controlled triggering of microreactions with high flexibility for a wide range of applications, especially for continuous chemical or cell assays

A Simplified Microfluidic Device for Particle Separation with Two Consecutive Steps: Induced Charge Electro-osmotic Prefocusing and Dielectrophoretic Separation

Continuous dielectrophoretic separation is recognized as a powerful technique for a large number of applications including early stage cancer diagnosis, water quality analysis, and stem-cell-based therapy. Generally, the prefocusing of a particle mixture into a stream is an essential process to ensure all particles are subjected to the same electric field geometry in the separation region. However, accomplishing this focusing process either requires hydrodynamic squeezing, which requires an encumbering peripheral system and a complicated operation to drive and control the fluid motion, or depends on dielectrophoretic forces, which are highly sensitive to the dielectric characterization of particles. An alternative focusing technique, induced charge electro-osmosis (ICEO), has been demonstrated to be effective in focusing an incoming mixture into a particle stream as well as nonselective regarding the particles of interest. Encouraged by these aspects, we propose a hybrid method for microparticle separation based on a delicate combination of ICEO focusing and dielectrophoretic deflection. This method involves two steps: focusing the mixture into a thin particle stream via ICEO vortex flow and separating the particles of differing dielectic properties through dielectrophoresis. To demonstrate the feasibility of the method proposed, we designed and fabricated a microfluidic chip and separated a mixture consisting of yeast cells and silica particles with an efficiency exceeding 96%. This method has good potential for flexible integration into other microfluidic chips in the future