A research team created a new way to sort living cells suspended in fluid using an all-in-one operation in a lab-on-chip that required only 30 minutes for the entire separation process. This device eliminated the need for labor-intensive sample pre-treatment and chemical tagging techniques while preserving the original structure of the cells. They constructed a prototype of a microfluidic chip that uses electric fields to gently coax cells in one direction or another in dielectrophoresis, a phenomenon or movement of neutral particles when they are subjected to an external non-uniform electric field.

Source: Faster, more efficient living cell separation achieved with new microfluidic chip