Benchtop Cell Electrophysiology with 3DEP
The 3DEP is the world's first DEP cytometer, providing rapid, low-cost and label-free cell electrophysiology.
Insert cells into a disposable chip using a micropipette. Insert the chip into the reader. Close the door and hit the button. It's that simple.
The 3DEP takes typically between 10 and 30 seconds to measure the mean properties of the cells in the analysis section of the chip - typically about 20,000. The chip requires less than 100ul, so total cell requirements are low (below 100,000).
Measurements of membrane capacitance, surface conductance, and cytoplasm conductivity are instant. Resting membrane potential can be estimated from two measurements in different media.
The system is fast enough to allow real-time measurements of resting values - for example, for measuring ultradian rhythms. It is subtle enough to detect stem cell differentiation fate weeks before the same information can be detected by protein expression. It can detect what goes on inside a cell, for example during infection. It can detect early ionic events such as BK channel activity in processes such as apoptosis, much faster than by other methods.
The reason we say "electrophysiology is everywhere", is that if you can measure electrophysiology this quickly and easily, you can use it as a marker for other things. The 3DEP can also discriminate between drug-resistant and drug-sensitive cells, or measure bacterial response to antibiotics and cancer cells to anti-cancer drugs - faster and more accurately than conventional methods such as MTT.
For more information and a demonstration of the system, watch the video below.