Nano-engineered living bacterial motors for active microfluidic mixing.
(2010) In IET Nanobiotechnology 4(3). p.61-71- Abstract
- Active micromixers with rotating elements are attractive microfluidic actuators in many applications because of their mixing ability at a short distance. However, miniaturising the impeller design poses technical challenges including the fabrication and driving means. As a possible solution inspired by macro magnetic bar-stirrers, this study proposes the use of tethered, rotating bacteria as mixing elements. A tethered cell is a genetically engineered, harmless Escherichia coli (E. coli) attached to a surface by a single, shortened flagellum. The tethered flagellum acts as a pivot around which the entire cell body smoothly rotates. Videomicroscopy, image analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are utilised to demonstrate a... (More)
- Active micromixers with rotating elements are attractive microfluidic actuators in many applications because of their mixing ability at a short distance. However, miniaturising the impeller design poses technical challenges including the fabrication and driving means. As a possible solution inspired by macro magnetic bar-stirrers, this study proposes the use of tethered, rotating bacteria as mixing elements. A tethered cell is a genetically engineered, harmless Escherichia coli (E. coli) attached to a surface by a single, shortened flagellum. The tethered flagellum acts as a pivot around which the entire cell body smoothly rotates. Videomicroscopy, image analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are utilised to demonstrate a proof-of-concept for the micro mixing process. Flow visualisation experiments show that a approximately 3 [micro sign]m long tethered E. coli rotating at approximately 240 rpm can circulate a 1 [micro sign]m polystyrene bead in the adjacent area at an average speed of nearly 4 [micro sign]m/s. The Peclet (Pe(b)) number for the stirred bead is evaluated to approximately 4. CFD simulations show that the rotary motion of a tethered E. coli rotating at 240 rpm can generate fluid velocities, up to 37 [micro sign]m/s bordering the cell envelop. Based on these simulations, the Strouhal number (St) is calculated to about 2. This hybrid bio-inorganic micromxer could be used as a local, disposable mixer. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1665160
- author
- Al-Fandi, M ; Jaradat, M A K ; Fandi, K ; Beech, Jason LU ; Tegenfeldt, Jonas LU and Yih, T C
- organization
- publishing date
- 2010
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- IET Nanobiotechnology
- volume
- 4
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 61 - 71
- publisher
- Institution of Engineering and Technology
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000281000600002
- pmid:20726672
- scopus:77956054713
- ISSN
- 1751-875X
- DOI
- 10.1049/iet-nbt.2010.0003
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f576480b-9eab-4498-9a2b-baab4f58fec4 (old id 1665160)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 11:12:00
- date last changed
- 2022-03-27 23:07:57
@article{f576480b-9eab-4498-9a2b-baab4f58fec4, abstract = {{Active micromixers with rotating elements are attractive microfluidic actuators in many applications because of their mixing ability at a short distance. However, miniaturising the impeller design poses technical challenges including the fabrication and driving means. As a possible solution inspired by macro magnetic bar-stirrers, this study proposes the use of tethered, rotating bacteria as mixing elements. A tethered cell is a genetically engineered, harmless Escherichia coli (E. coli) attached to a surface by a single, shortened flagellum. The tethered flagellum acts as a pivot around which the entire cell body smoothly rotates. Videomicroscopy, image analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are utilised to demonstrate a proof-of-concept for the micro mixing process. Flow visualisation experiments show that a approximately 3 [micro sign]m long tethered E. coli rotating at approximately 240 rpm can circulate a 1 [micro sign]m polystyrene bead in the adjacent area at an average speed of nearly 4 [micro sign]m/s. The Peclet (Pe(b)) number for the stirred bead is evaluated to approximately 4. CFD simulations show that the rotary motion of a tethered E. coli rotating at 240 rpm can generate fluid velocities, up to 37 [micro sign]m/s bordering the cell envelop. Based on these simulations, the Strouhal number (St) is calculated to about 2. This hybrid bio-inorganic micromxer could be used as a local, disposable mixer.}}, author = {{Al-Fandi, M and Jaradat, M A K and Fandi, K and Beech, Jason and Tegenfeldt, Jonas and Yih, T C}}, issn = {{1751-875X}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{61--71}}, publisher = {{Institution of Engineering and Technology}}, series = {{IET Nanobiotechnology}}, title = {{Nano-engineered living bacterial motors for active microfluidic mixing.}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1049/iet-nbt.2010.0003}}, doi = {{10.1049/iet-nbt.2010.0003}}, volume = {{4}}, year = {{2010}}, }