Acoustofluidic manipulation of biological bodies: Applications in medical and environmental diagnosis

Ultrasound-based external forcing of biological bodies in microfluidics has emerged as a contactless way of manipulating cells and particles for a range of applications, including sample enrichment, filtration, and sorting. Recently, acoustic radiation forces have shown potential for manipulating pathogenic organisms in biological assays. In this presentation, we demonstrate the development of acoustofluidic systems designed for high-throughput manipulation and capturing of biological bodies in applications ranging from medical to environmental diagnosis. Specifically, we apply our acoustofluidic systems to the detection of (i) cancer and immune cells in the early-stage diagnosis of blood malignancies and allergies, and (ii) bacterial microorganisms, spores, and planktonic cells for screening of environmental and industrial samples.