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Micromachines
Special Issues
Advances in Electrokinetics for Cell Sorting and Analysis
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Advances in Electrokinetics for Cell Sorting and Analysis

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "C1: Micro/Nanoscale Electrokinetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 1413

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Soumya Srivastava

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1306 Evansdale Dr., P.O. Box 6102, Morgantown, WV 26506-6102, USA
Interests: microfluidics; bioseparations; dielectrophoresis; modeling and simulations; educational research
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue highlights the latest breakthroughs in electrokinetic technologies—particularly dielectrophoresis (DEP), electrophoresis, and electroosmosis—for cell sorting, manipulation, and biophysical analysis. With the growing demand for rapid, label-free, and minimally invasive methods in both research and clinical diagnostics, electrokinetic platforms offer unparalleled precision in characterizing cellular phenotypes, physiological states, and disease signatures. Featured contributions span innovations in microfluidic device design, new modeling approaches for cell–field interactions, high-throughput DEP systems, and applications in immunology, oncology, and regenerative medicine. Together, these works underscore the transformative role of electrokinetics in enabling next-generation tools for cellular diagnostics, personalized medicine, and point-of-care technologies.

Dr. Soumya Srivastava
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • dielectrophoresis (DEP)
  • electrokinetics
  • cell sorting
  • label-free diagnostics
  • microfluidics
  • single-cell analysis
  • electrophysiology
  • cell biophysics
  • point-of-care technologies
  • high-throughput screening
  • personalized medicine

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

30 pages, 3247 KB  
Article
The Clausius–Mossotti Factor in Dielectrophoresis: A Critical Appraisal of Its Proposed Role as an ‘Electrophysiology Rosetta Stone’
by Ronald Pethig
Micromachines 2026, 17(1), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17010096 - 11 Jan 2026
Viewed by 1125
Abstract
The Clausius–Mossotti (CM) factor underpins the theoretical description of dielectrophoresis (DEP) and is widely used in micro- and nano-scale systems for frequency-dependent particle and cell manipulation. It has further been proposed as an “electrophysiology Rosetta Stone” capable of linking DEP spectra to intrinsic [...] Read more.
The Clausius–Mossotti (CM) factor underpins the theoretical description of dielectrophoresis (DEP) and is widely used in micro- and nano-scale systems for frequency-dependent particle and cell manipulation. It has further been proposed as an “electrophysiology Rosetta Stone” capable of linking DEP spectra to intrinsic cellular electrical properties. In this paper, the mathematical foundations and interpretive limits of this proposal are critically examined. By analyzing contrast factors derived from Laplace’s equation across multiple physical domains, it is shown that the CM functional form is a universal consequence of geometry, material contrast, and boundary conditions in linear Laplacian fields, rather than a feature unique to biological systems. Key modelling assumptions relevant to DEP are reassessed. Deviations from spherical symmetry lead naturally to tensorial contrast factors through geometry-dependent depolarisation coefficients. Complex, frequency-dependent CM factors and associated relaxation times are shown to inevitably arise from the coexistence of dissipative and storage mechanisms under time-varying forcing, independent of particle composition. Membrane surface charge influences DEP response through modified interfacial boundary conditions and effective transport parameters, rather than by introducing an independent driving mechanism. These results indicate that DEP spectra primarily reflect boundary-controlled field–particle coupling. From an inverse-problem perspective, this places fundamental constraints on parameter identifiability in DEP-based characterization. The CM factor remains a powerful and general modelling tool for micromachines and microfluidic systems, but its interpretive scope must be understood within the limits imposed by Laplacian field theory. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Electrokinetics for Cell Sorting and Analysis)
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