Integrated Hybrid Glass-Plastic Chip for Sorting and Counting of Microparticles in Biomedical Applications

We present the development of a compact, easy-to-use device that implements a 3D microfluidic network with sensing sites, based on impedance spectroscopy techniques. The aim is to provide a Lab-on-Chip approach in applications where classification of microparticles is required, as well as morphological and volume studies. A complex colloidal mixture made of cell-resembling agarose microbeads suspended in aqueous medium was arranged to carry out microfluidic and impedance spectroscopy tests on the device. Preliminary impedance measurements show the effectiveness of the counting sub-system, displaying a good sensitivity in detecting the passing of a single bead over a sensing site. These results confirm the effectiveness of the system, and encourage further developments toward an implementation in actual biomedical scenarios. Possible applications can be found in 3D cell-cultures monitoring, blood analysis and diagnosis and blood-related diseases.