Patent 9403172 was granted and assigned to Berkeley Lights on August, 2016 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A microfluidic optoelectronic tweezers (OET) device can comprise dielectrophoresis (DEP) electrodes that can be activated and deactivated by controlling a beam of light directed onto photosensitive elements that are disposed in locations that are spaced apart from the DEP electrodes. The photosensitive elements can be photodiodes, which can switch the switch mechanisms that connect the DEP electrodes to a power electrode between an off state and an on state.