What is it about?
In this paper, we present a novel microfluidic device that can achieve high-efficiency cell trapping, which can then be released in a deterministic order. Two types of capillary valves are configured along the channels. As these capillary valves can be automatically opened in a predefined pattern, the incoming cells can be spontaneously and sequentially trapped into separate trapping sites. After trapping, the individual trapped cells can be released from their sites in a last-trapped-first-release manner by applying pressure from the trigger channel to counteract against the pressure from the main channel.
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Why is it important?
Successful single-cell isolation is a pivotal technique for subsequent biological and chemical analysis of single cells. Although significant advances have been made in single-cell isolation and analysis techniques, most passive microfluidic devices cannot deterministically release trapped cells for further analysis. We fill this gap.
Perspectives
Experiments using MCF-7 cells demonstrated the capability of our device of deterministic single cell trapping and release. We envision that our method constitutes a useful sample preparation platform for single cell analysis.
Professor Wenhui Wang
Tsinghua University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A microfluidic device enabling deterministic single cell trapping and release, Lab on a Chip, January 2021, Royal Society of Chemistry,
DOI: 10.1039/d1lc00302j.
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