Investigating Cell-Particle Conjugate Orientations in a Microfluidic Channel to Ameliorate Impedance-based Signal Acquisition and Detection

Many biomedical experimental assays rely on cell-to-microparticle conjugation and their subsequent detection to quantify disease-related biomarkers. In this report, we investigated the effect of particle attachment position on a cell’s surface to a signal acquired using impedance cytometry. We also present a novel configuration of independent coplanar microelectrodes positioned at the bottom and top of the microfluidic channel. In simulation results, our configuration accurately identifies different particle positions around the cell. We implemented a channel design with focusing regions between electrodes, and considered external factors around the channel such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) interacting with the electric field and physical constraints of top electrodes placed farther away from the channel which improves detection accuracy.