Microchip May Help Identify Unwanted Particles in Food and Water

July 19, 2013- A new process for making a 3-D microstructure that can be used in the analysis of cells could prove useful in counterterrorism measures and in water and food safety.

The research, conducted by members of Virginia Tech's Microelectromechanical Systems Laboratory in the school’s electrical and computer engineering department is the focus of a recent article in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' Journal of Microelectomechanical Systems.

In their engineering lab, researchers developed a new microfabrication technique to create 3-D microfluidic devices in polymers. Microfluidics deals with the performance, control, and treatment of fluids that are constrained in some way, explained Masoud Agah, director of the laboratory.

As a result of this work, Agah, and Amy Pruden, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, have received a National Science Foundation award of $353,091 to use the technology to develop new microchips named 3D-πDEP, standing for "three-dimensional, passivated-electrode, insulator-based dielectrophoresis" for pathogen detection.

The NSF grant will allow them to focus on the isolation of waterborne pathogens, which represent a major challenge to human health and cause about 2.5 million deaths each year worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization, the isolation of pathogenic bacteria from the environment has not significantly changed since the 1960s, when methods for chemical treatment of samples to remove background organisms were first implemented.

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