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Automated Dielectrophoretic Tweezers-Based Force Spectroscopy System in a Microfluidic Device

We reported an automated dielectrophoretic (DEP) tweezers-based force spectroscopy system to examine intermolecular weak binding interactions, which consists of three components: (1) interdigitated electrodes and micro-sized polystyrene particles used as DEP tweezers and probes inside a microfluidic...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kim, Min Hyung, Lee, Jeongjick, Nam, Kihwan, Park, In Soo, Son, Myeonggu, Ko, Hyunchul, Lee, Sangyoup, Yoon, Dae Sung, Chang, Woo-Jin, Lee, Sei Young, Yoon, Young Ro, Lee, Sang Woo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5677021/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28976941
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s17102272
Descripción
Sumario:We reported an automated dielectrophoretic (DEP) tweezers-based force spectroscopy system to examine intermolecular weak binding interactions, which consists of three components: (1) interdigitated electrodes and micro-sized polystyrene particles used as DEP tweezers and probes inside a microfluidic device, along with an arbitrary function generator connected to a high voltage amplifier; (2) microscopy hooked up to a high-speed charge coupled device (CCD) camera with an image acquisition device; and (3) a computer aid control system based on the LabVIEW program. Using this automated system, we verified the measurement reliability by measuring intermolecular weak binding interactions, such as hydrogen bonds and Van der Waals interactions. In addition, we also observed the linearity of the force loading rates, which is applied to the probes by the DEP tweezers, by varying the number of voltage increment steps and thus affecting the linearity of the force loading rates. This system provides a simple and low-cost platform to investigate intermolecular weak binding interactions.