Controlled manipulation of microparticles utilizing magnetic and dielectrophoretic forces

Sammanfattning: This thesis presents some experimental work in the area of manipulation of microparticles. Manipulation of both magnetic and non magnetic beads as well as microorganisms are addressed. The work on magnetic bead manipulation is focused on controlled transport and release, on a micrometer level, of proteins bound to the bead surface. Experimental results for protein transport and release using a method based on magnetization/demagnetization of micron-sized magnetic elements patterned on a modified chip-surface are presented. Special attention has been placed on minimizing bead-surface interactions since sticking problems have shown to be of major importance when protein-coated beads are used. The work with non-magnetic microparticles is focused on the dielectrophoretic manipulation of microorganisms. Preliminary experimental results for trapping and spatial separation of bacteria, yeast and non-magnetic beads are presented. The overall goal was to investigate the use of dielectrophoresis for the separation of sub-populations of bacteria differing in, for example, protein content. This was, however, not possible to demonstrate using our methods.Within the non-magnetic microparticle work, a method for determining the conductivity of bacteria in bulk was also developed. The method is based on the continuous lowering of medium conductivity of a bacterialsuspension while monitoring the medium and suspension conductivities.?