On-chip micromanipulation method based on mode switching of vibration-induced asymmetric flow

Abstract

We propose an on-chip micromanipulation method based on mode switching of vibration-induced asymmetric flow. The asymmetric flow can be induced around rotationally asymmetric structures on a microfluidic chip by applying a circular vibration to the chip. Thus, the flow pattern can be switched by changing directions of applied vibrations as clockwise or counter-clockwise. In this study, we applied the switching of flow patterns (e. g., trap mode and transport mode, or trap mode and alignment mode) to change the manipulation modes of microobjects. Furthermore, we demonstrated the proposed method for two applications, local cell concentration and single particle loading. These demonstrations show that the proposed manipulation method can realize versatile on-chip micromanipulations and will contribute to high-throughput and high-reliability cell analysis or diagnosis.