UC San Diego

Common epifluorescent microscopy does not provide the sensitivity to detect low levels of important analytes, such as drug delivery nanoparticles or disease biomarkers. Advanced optical elements may be used to improve performance, but greatly increase the cost of the system. In this thesis, an epifluorescent microscope has been combined with a microelectrode array employing dielectrophoresis (DEP) to concentrate and capture nanoparticulates into defined areas; this process shown to enable low level detection below a clinically significant level. The cost of the microscope and microelectrode array analytical system is substantially lower than other advanced optical detection systems