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Micromachines
Special Issues
Micro/Nanotechnology for Cell Manipulation, Detection and Analysis
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Micro/Nanotechnology for Cell Manipulation, Detection and Analysis

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B：Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 1714

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,

Microfluidics has shown its value in the application of bioparticle sorting for biology and medicine, such as the isolation of pathogens, proteins, exosomes, stem cells, circulating tumor cells, blood-cell sorting, and cancer stem-cell separation. This Special Issue emphasizes the manipulation of cells/particles at a micro/nano scale on a microfluidic platform. Submissions integrating modeling and experimentation are preferred.

Contribution may be in the form of (i) a research article with original results, or (ii) a critical review, which may also contain original results focusing on novel methodological developments and applications pertaining to cell manipulation at a micro and sub-micro scale. The subjects of the upcoming issue could include bioparticle manipulation using electric fields or any external forces such as inertia, and may also include, but are not limited to:

-Electrokinetics in microchannels and nanochannels;
-Dielectric spectroscopy;
-Traveling wave dielectrophoresis;
-Dielectrophoretic enrichment, separation, and manipulation;
-Inertial microfluidics;
-Biosensors integrated with microchips to manipulate bioparticles;
-AI/ML applications integrated with microchips to manipulate bioparticles.

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • microfluidics
  • cells
  • bioparticles
  • manipulation
  • cell sorting

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3245 KiB  
Article
Electrical Phenotyping of Aged Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Using Dielectrophoresis
by Lexi L. C. Simpkins, Tunglin Tsai, Emmanuel Egun and Tayloria N. G. Adams
Micromachines 2025, 16(4), 435; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi16040435 - 3 Apr 2025
Viewed by 404
Abstract
Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are widely used in regenerative medicine, but large-scale in vitro expansion alters their function, impacting proliferation and differentiation potential. Currently, a predictive marker to assess these changes is lacking. Here, we used dielectrophoresis (DEP) to characterize the electrical [...] Read more.
Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are widely used in regenerative medicine, but large-scale in vitro expansion alters their function, impacting proliferation and differentiation potential. Currently, a predictive marker to assess these changes is lacking. Here, we used dielectrophoresis (DEP) to characterize the electrical phenotype of hMSCs derived from bone marrow (BM), adipose tissue (AT), and umbilical cord (UC) as they aged in vitro from passage 4 (P4) to passage 9 (P9). The electrical phenotype was defined by the DEP spectra, membrane capacitance, and cytoplasm conductivity. Cell morphology and size, growth characteristics, adipogenic differentiation potential, and osteogenic differentiation potential were assessed alongside label-free biomarker membrane capacitance and cytoplasm conductivity. Differentiation was confirmed by histological staining and RT-qPCR. All hMSCs exhibited typical morphology, though cell size varied, with UC-hMSCs displaying the largest variability across all size metrics. Growth analysis revealed that UC-hMSCs proliferated the fastest. The electrical phenotype varied with cell source and in vitro age, with high passage hMSCs showing noticeable shifts in DEP spectra, membrane capacitance, and cytoplasm conductivity. Correlation analysis revealed that population doubling level (PDL) correlated with membrane capacitance and cytoplasm conductivity, indicating PDL as a more precise marker of in vitro aging than passage number. Additionally, we demonstrate that membrane capacitance correlates with the osteogenic marker COL1A1 and that cytoplasm conductivity correlates with the adipogenic markers ADIPOQ and FABP4, suggesting that DEP-derived electrical properties serve as label-free biomarkers of differentiation potential. While DEP has previously been applied to BM-hMSCs and AT-hMSCs, and more recently to UC-hMSCs, few studies have provided a direct comparison across all three sources or tracked changes across continuous expansion. These findings underscore the utility of DEP as a label-free approach for assessing hMSC aging and function, offering practical applications for optimizing stem cell expansion and stem cell banking in clinical settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nanotechnology for Cell Manipulation, Detection and Analysis)
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17 pages, 6420 KiB  
Article
Dielectrophoretic Microfluidic Designs for Precision Cell Enrichments and Highly Viable Label-Free Bacteria Recovery from Blood
by Dean E. Thomas, Kyle S. Kinskie, Kyle M. Brown, Lisa A. Flanagan, Rafael V. Davalos and Alexandra R. Hyler
Micromachines 2025, 16(2), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi16020236 - 19 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 820
Abstract
Conducting detailed cellular analysis of complex biological samples poses challenges in cell sorting and recovery for downstream analysis. Label-free microfluidics provide a promising solution for these complex applications. In this work, we investigate particle manipulation on two label-free microdevice designs using cDEP to [...] Read more.
Conducting detailed cellular analysis of complex biological samples poses challenges in cell sorting and recovery for downstream analysis. Label-free microfluidics provide a promising solution for these complex applications. In this work, we investigate particle manipulation on two label-free microdevice designs using cDEP to enrich E. coli from whole human blood to mimic infection workflows. E. coli is still a growing source of bacteremia, sepsis, and other infections in modern countries, affecting millions of patients globally. The two microfluidic designs were evaluated for throughput, scaling, precision targeting, and high-viability recovery. While CytoChip D had the potential for higher throughput, given its continuous method of DEP-based sorting to accommodate larger clinical samples like a 10 mL blood draw, it could not effectively recover the bacteria. CytoChip B achieved a high-purity recovery of over 98% of bacteria from whole human blood, even in concentrations on the order of <100 CFU/mL, demonstrating the feasibility of processing and recovering ultra-low concentrations of bacteria for downstream analysis, culture, and drug testing. Future work will aim to scale CytoChip B for larger volume throughput while still achieving high bacteria recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nanotechnology for Cell Manipulation, Detection and Analysis)
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