Diffusion sensing of exosome using localized enrichment by dynamic light-induced dielectrophoresis

Exosomes play an important role in mediating cell–cell communication and are expected to have significant potential in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In this study, we propose an opto-microfluidic characterization technique for exosomes based on the measurement of the diffusion coefficient using dynamic manipulation via light-induced dielectrophoresis. The concentration of exosomes is enhanced through approximately 20 min of dynamic manipulation followed by rapid diffractive detection within a few seconds to determine the diffusion coefficient. The applicability of the proposed method to exosome analysis is validated by comparison with results obtained using an alternative sensing technique.