Bacterial chemotaxis enabled autonomous sorting of micro-particles

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2012:2012:2823-6. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6346551.

Abstract

Autonomous manipulation and assembly at micro/nanoscale continues to be one of the main challenges of micro/nanorobotics. Biomotors are increasingly being considered as robust, versatile and cost-effective choices for a variety of micro/nanorobotic tasks. Here we propose utilization of motility and chemotaxis in flagellated bacteria for autonomous sorting of 6 µm and 10 µm micro-particles within a microfluidic platform. Difference in surface chemistry of the 6 µm and 10 µm particles are exploited to selectively assemble bacteria onto 6 µm particles and separate them from 10 µm particles via chemotaxis motility of the attached bacteria. It has been shown that within 1 hour, an increasingly larger number of 6 µm particles accumulate within a 600 µm radius, near the chemo-attractant source.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Physiological Phenomena*
  • Chemotaxis / physiology*
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods*