Methods and apparatus for detecting, quantifying, enriching, and/or separating bacterial species in fluid sample are provided. The fluid sample is provided as input to a microfluidic passage of a microfluidic device, wherein the microfluidic device comprises at least one electrode disposed adjacent to the microfluidic passage. The at least one electrode is activated to capture bacteria in the sample using dielectrophoresis, wherein the capture efficiency of bacteria is at least 99%.

Methods and apparatus for detecting, quantifying, enriching, and/or separating bacterial species in fluid sample are provided. The fluid sample is provided as input to a microfluidic passage of a microfluidic device, wherein the microfluidic device comprises at least one electrode disposed adjacent to the microfluidic passage. The at least one electrode is activated to capture bacteria in the sample using dielectrophoresis, wherein the capture efficiency of bacteria is at least 99%.

An object trapping device enables efficiently trapping a plurality of objects in a specific combination. Each of a first electrode pair (13), a second electrode pair (14), and a third electrode pair (15) in an electrode pair group (3) is applied with an individual AC voltage and traps an object by dielectrophoresis generated in accordance with the AC voltage that is applied.

A method of detecting a target biological entity comprising: introducing a biofluid to a suspension to provide a precursor mixture, the biofluid comprising a plurality of target biological entities, and the suspension comprising a plurality of nanoparticles, wherein each of the plurality of nanoparticles is functionalized so that it may bind with the target biological entity to produce a bound nanoparticle-entity assembly; treating the precursor mixture to separate/isolate the bound nanoparticle-entity assemblies to provide a treated precursor mixture; and characterizing the treated precursor mixture with a sensor comprising a substrate bearing electrodes separated by a lateral distance of less than 100 nm, wherein a region between the electrodes defines a sensing region. The characterizing comprises: applying an electric field to the treated precursor mixture to concentrate the assemblies in the sensing region; applying a nanoparticle sensing voltage between the electrodes; characterizing a response of the sensing region to the nanoparticle sensing voltage to determine treated precursor mixture characterizing data.

Methods and apparatus providing for the isolation of an unknown mutation from a sample comprising wild type nucleic acids and mutated nucleic acids through the application of time-varying driving fields and periodically varying mobility-altering fields to the sample within in an affinity matrix.

The present invention includes methods, devices and systems for isolating, identifying, analyzing, and quantifying biological materials from fluid samples. In various aspects, the methods, devices and systems may allow for a rapid procedure that requires a minimal amount of material and/or results in high purity biological materials from complex fluids such as blood, serum, or plasma.

A sensor using electrophoresis may include a microfluidic channel and electrodes on opposite sides of the microfluidic channel to generate an electric field across, or normal to, the channel. The electric field may be used to drive charged particles of material, particularly material suspended in fluid in the microfluidic channel, toward or away from the one of the electrodes. The electric field may be modulated to allow material to continue flowing through the microfluidic channel, to remove non-target material, or to measure another target material.

Methods and apparatus for detecting, quantifying, enriching, and/or separating bacterial species in fluid sample are provided. The fluid sample is provided as input to a microfluidic passage of a microfluidic device, wherein the microfluidic device comprises at least one electrode disposed adjacent to the microfluidic passage. The at least one electrode is activated to capture bacteria in the sample using dielectrophoresis, wherein the capture efficiency of bacteria is at least 99%.

Methods and apparatus for detecting, quantifying, enriching, and/or separating bacterial species in fluid sample are provided. The fluid sample is provided as input to a microfluidic passage of a microfluidic device, wherein the microfluidic device comprises at least one electrode disposed adjacent to the microfluidic passage. The at least one electrode is activated to capture bacteria in the sample using dielectrophoresis, wherein the capture efficiency of bacteria is at least 99%.

A 3-dimensional PDMS cell sorter having multiple passages in a PDMS layer that follow the same path in a DEP separation region and that are in fluid communication with each other within that region. The passages may differ in width transverse to the flow direction within the passages. Flat plates may sandwich the PDMS layer; each plate may have a planar electrode used to generate a DEP field within a sample fluid flowed within the passages. The DEP field may concentrate target cells or particulates within one of the passages within the DEP separation region. The passages may diverge after the DEP-separation region, leaving one passage with a high concentration of target cells or particulates. Techniques for manufacturing such structures, as well as other micro-fluidic structures, are also provided.