title: Dielectrophoretic separation of Bacillus subtilis spores from environmental diesel particles.
abstract: Isolation of pathogenic bacteria from non-biological material of similar size is a vital sample preparation step in the identification of such organisms, particularly in the context of detecting bio-terrorist attacks. However, many detection methods are impeded by particulate contamination from the environment such as those from engine exhausts. In this paper we use dielectrophoresis--the induced motion of particles in non-uniform fields--to successfully remove over 99% of diesel particulates acquired from environmental samples, whilst letting bacterial spores of B. subtilis pass through the chamber largely unimpeded. We believe that such a device has tremendous potential as a precursor to a range of detection methods, improving the signal-to-noise ratio and ultimately improving detection rates.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK.
authors.forename: Henry O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Fatoyinbo
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Stacey P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pashby
authors.forename: Fatima H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Labeed
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005742:Gasoline; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D010316:Particle Size; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D005742:Gasoline