The invention relates to a method for operating a fluidic microsystem (100) for the dielectrophoretic manipulation of suspended particles (1) having a particle diameter in a suspension liquid (2), wherein the microsystem (100) comprises: —a channel (10) having a longitudinal direction; —an electrode device (20) having an electrode (21), the longitudinal extent of which deviates from the longitudinal direction of the channel (10) and which has individually controllable electrode segments (22) for producing dielectrophoretic forces which act on the particles (1), each electrode segment (22) having a deflection angle α, relative to the longitudinal direction of the channel (10), and a segment length (s.sub.i), which determine a segment offset (D.sub.i) perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the channel (10); and—a control device (30). The method comprises: —producing a flow of the suspension liquid (2) with a flow velocity so that the particles (1) successively pass through an interaction region of the electrode (21), which interaction region is spanned by the electrode segments (22); and—activating the electrode segments (22) in order to deflect the particles (1) onto predetermined motion paths (4, 5), which are determined by a superposition of flow forces in the flow of the suspension liquid (2) and of the dielectrophoretic forces at the electrode segments (22). During the passage of each particle, each of the electrode segments (22) which are passed by the particle (1) is activated in a clocked manner for a predetermined activation duration, according to the desired motion path (4, 5), the activation duration of each electrode segment (22) being determined by the quotient of the segment length (s.sub.i) of the electrode segment (22) and the flow velocity. The electrode segments (22) are dimensioned such that the segment offset (D.sub.i) of each electrode segment (22) is less than the particle diameter. For the deflection of each particle (1), at least two successive electrode segments (22) cooperate.

A method of manufacturing a micro flow path device includes: arranging a cover film on a surface of a base film on which an electrode pattern made of a metallic thin film has been formed and obtaining a flow path forming laminate; punching the obtained flow path forming laminate along a shape of a flow path so as to cut a part of the electrode pattern and forming a punched portion in which at least a pair of opposite electrodes are exposed to a part of the punched cut surface; and disposing a first planar member, defining a bottom surface of the flow paths on a back surface side of the flow path forming laminate on which the punched portion has been formed and disposing a second planar member defining a top surface of the flow path on a front surface side of the flow path forming laminate.

A method of manufacturing a micro flow path device includes: arranging a cover film on a surface of a base film on which an electrode pattern made of a metallic thin film has been formed and obtaining a flow path forming laminate; punching the obtained flow path forming laminate along a shape of a flow path so as to cut a part of the electrode pattern and forming a punched portion in which at least a pair of opposite electrodes are exposed to a part of the punched cut surface; and disposing a first planar member, defining a bottom surface of the flow paths on a back surface side of the flow path forming laminate on which the punched portion has been formed and disposing a second planar member defining a top surface of the flow path on a front surface side of the flow path forming laminate.

A nanocarbon separation device includes a separation tank that is configured to accommodate a dispersion liquid including nanocarbons, a first electrode provided at an upper part in the separation tank, a second electrode provided at a lower part in the separation tank, an evaluation unit that is configured to evaluate a physical state or a chemical state of the dispersion liquid, and a determination unit that is configured to determine a separation state between metallic nanocarbons and semiconducting nanocarbons included in the dispersion liquid from the physical state or the chemical state.

A nanocarbon separation device includes a separation tank that is configured to accommodate a dispersion liquid including nanocarbons, a first electrode provided at an upper part in the separation tank, a second electrode provided at a lower part in the separation tank, an evaluation unit that is configured to evaluate a physical state or a chemical state of the dispersion liquid, and a determination unit that is configured to determine a separation state between metallic nanocarbons and semiconducting nanocarbons included in the dispersion liquid from the physical state or the chemical state.

An electro-separation apparatus for separation of drilling fluids is provided. The apparatus can include a reaction chamber and a set of electrode plates provided in the reaction chamber. A sediment outlet can be provided near a bottom of the reaction chamber and wiper blades can be provided for sweeping sediment that has collected on the electrode plates towards the sediment outlet.

An electro-separation apparatus for separation of drilling fluids is provided. The apparatus can include a reaction chamber and a set of electrode plates provided in the reaction chamber. A sediment outlet can be provided near a bottom of the reaction chamber and wiper blades can be provided for sweeping sediment that has collected on the electrode plates towards the sediment outlet.

Systems, methods, and devices are described herein for identifying, monitoring, isolating, or selecting a cell having a predefined characteristic in a mixed population of cells utilizing a combination of any one or more of iDEP, a region of localized field enhancement, a variable frequency electric field, a wide bandwidth amplifier, and/or an imaging apparatus.

Biological activity in holding pens in a micro-fluidic device can be assayed by placing in the holding pens capture objects that bind a particular material of interest produced by the biological activity. The biological material of interest that binds to each capture object can then be assessed, either in the micro-fluidic device or after exporting the capture object from the micro-fluidic device. The assessment can be utilized to characterize the biological activity in each holding pen. The biological activity can be production of the biological material of interest. Thus, the biological activity can correspond to or arise from one or more biological cells. Biological cells within a holding pen can be clonal cell colonies. The biological activity of each clonal cell colony can be assayed while maintaining the clonal status of each colony.

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.