BACKGROUND

The BIOMEDICAL sciences require techniques to accurately and efficiently separate colloidal, cellular, and other biological particles in a sterile fashion with minimal damage. At the micron scale, the isolation of specific cell subpopulations may assist in the progress of cell-based therapies of cancer, investigating autoimmune diseases and examining genetic disorders. A good example to consider is stem cell populations. Methods for separating and investigating stem cell populations may lead to improved disease understanding and new forms of therapy. At the size scale of a cell, we can explore alternative strategies for sorting using optical methods. In particular we can use the response of cells and colloid to an optical lattice or light pattern for sorting 

OPTICAL SORTING

Cell sorting at the microfluidic scale has come to the fore in the last few years. At the microfluidic scale, inertia is largely negligible and we are reliant solely on viscous forces. Flow in a microfluidic channel gives rise to laminar (low Reynolds number) or turbulent-free flow. The Reynolds number is the ratio of inertia to  viscous forces, and is often, used to describe the behavior in a microfluidic environment. For the purpose of mixing, deflection, and sorting at the microfluidic level, we would have to depend solely on diffusion in the absence of any externally applied forces

Review papers

Optical separation of cells on potential energy landscapes: enhancement with dielectric tagging(pdf)
K. Dholakia, W. M. Lee, L. Paterson, M.P. MacDonald, R. McDonald, I.Andreev, P. Mthunzi, C. T. A. Brown, R. F. Marchington and A. C. Riches IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 13 1646 - 1654 (2007)Research Papers

Optical Micromanipulation (pdf)
K. Dholakia, P Reece and M Gu Chem. Soc. Rev, 37, 42 - 55 (2008), DOI: 10.1039/b512471a

Cellular and colloidal separation using optical forces(pdf) 
K.Dholakia, M.P.MacDonald, P.Zemanek, T.Cižmár, Book Chapter: LASER MANIPULATION OF CELLS AND TISSUES METHODS IN CELL BIOLOGY 82: 467-495 (2007)

Key Research Papers

Microfluidic sorting in an optical lattice, M. P. MacDonald, G. C. Spalding, and K. Dholakia, Nature 426, 421--424 (2003), DOI:10.1038/nature02144

Optical deflection and sorting of microparticles in a near-field optical geometry, R. F. Marchington, M. Mazilu, S. Kuriakose, V. Garces-Chavez, P. J. Reece, T. F. Krauss, M. Gu, and K. Dholakia, Optics Express16, 3712--3726 (2008)

Light-induced cell separation in a tailored optical landscape, L. Paterson, E. Papagiakoumou, G. Milne, V. Garces-Chavez, S. A. Tatarkova, W. Sibbett, F. J. Gunn-Moore, P. E. Bryant, A. C. Riches, and K. Dholakia, Applied Physics Letters 87, 123901 (2005), DOI:10.1063/1.2045548

• < Prev