Selective microorganism concentration using a dielectrophoresis-based microfabricated device
Name
220909770-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
9.05 MB
Format
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Checksum (MD5)
7e24aa0544c57e0ef794d3e8305d17f4
Author(s)
Puchała, Katarzyna Anna
Advisor(s)
Joel Voldman.
Date Issued
2007
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Detection of pathogenic microorganisms is a significant challenge in medicine, environmental protection and biological threat safety because samples are often contaminated. This work presents a method of separating bacterial spores from typical air contaminants such as sand or soot by means of dielectrophoresis. Spores of B. subtilis as well as model airborne interferents are characterized electrically; based on their properties, schemes of their electrical separation are proposed. The separation based on the frequency of applied electric field is implemented using microfabricated chips. To relate the data obtained from these microtools to particle concentration, a computer program is designed, implemented and validated. Experiments show that separation of bacterial spores from soot and sand suspended in water based on electrical properties of particles is possible and may serve as a way of enhancing spore concentration in mixtures.
Description
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2007.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
"February 2007."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-55).
Subjects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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