A Microfluidic Device for Nano-scale Extracellular Vesicles Differentiation Via The Synergetic Effect of Deterministic Lateral Displacement and Dielectrophoresis

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel microfluidic device based on the synergy of deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) and dielectrophoresis (DEP) techniques, which enables the differentiation of exosomes from both large extracellular vesicles (e.g. apoptotic vesicles, ectosomes) and particles that are close in size but differ in biochemical compositions (e.g. Lipoproteins, Exomeres, Retroviruses). We fabricated nanoscale pillar arrays through $\gt1 ~\mu$m resolution photolithography by making innovative use of thermal oxidation, which significantly reduces fabrication costs by avoiding the use of high-precision lithography. We further proceeded to optimize device design with simulation study and conduct experimental verification.