Abstract

This chapter discusses the concepts of electrokinetics, dielectrophoresis and how they intertwine with other forces in microsystems to aid microfluidic disease diagnostics. Methods of obtaining the intrinsic electrical properties of biological materials are first discussed alongside the mechanisms governing the variations in the intrinsic properties when biological entities become diseased/infected. The procedure and importance of modeling and simulation of disease detection platforms prior to their fabrication and testing is also discussed. Fabrication techniques for low- and high-resource settings are presented as well. The various applications of the synergy of dielectrophoresis and electrokinetics for disease detection are discussed. The chapter will end with some novel ideas about the believed future directions of the electrokinetic methods for early, intermediate, and late-stage disease detection either as adjuncts of various existing diagnostic methodologies or as a stand-alone diagnostic alternative.

Keywords: electrokinetics, dielectrophoresis, microsystems, disease diagnostics, dielectric properties
