High-speed particle detection and tracking in microfluidic devices using event-based sensing

Howell, Jessie and Hammarton, Tansy C. and Altmann, Yoann and Jimenez, Melanie (2020) High-speed particle detection and tracking in microfluidic devices using event-based sensing. Lab on a Chip, 20 (16). pp. 3024-3035. ISSN 1473-0197 (https://doi.org/10.1039/d0lc00556h)

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Abstract

Visualising fluids and particles within channels is a key element of microfluidic work. Current imaging methods for particle image velocimetry often require expensive high-speed cameras with powerful illuminating sources, thus potentially limiting accessibility. This study explores for the first time the potential of an event-based camera for particle and fluid behaviour characterisation in a microfluidic system. Event-based cameras have the unique capacity to detect light intensity changes asynchronously and to record spatial and temporal information with low latency, low power and high dynamic range. Event-based cameras could consequently be relevant for detecting light intensity changes due to moving particles, chemical reactions or intake of fluorescent dyes by cells to mention a few. As a proof-of-principle, event-based sensing was tested in this work to detect 1 μm and 10 μm diameter particles flowing in a microfluidic channel for average fluid velocities of up to 1.54 m s−1. Importantly, experiments were performed by directly connecting the camera to a standard fluorescence microscope, only relying on the microscope arc lamp for illumination. We present a data processing strategy that allows particle detection and tracking in both bright-field and fluorescence imaging. Detection was achieved up to a fluid velocity of 1.54 m s−1 and tracking up to 0.4 m s−1 suggesting that event-based cameras could be a new paradigm shift in microscopic imaging.

ORCID iDs

Howell, Jessie, Hammarton, Tansy C., Altmann, Yoann and Jimenez, Melanie ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4631-0608;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)