Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven - University of Leuven , Willem de Croylaan 42, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Department of Applied biosciences, Ghent University , Valentyn Vaerwyckweg 1 - building C, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
ACS Sens. 2018 Feb 23;3(2):264-284. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.7b00873. Epub 2018 Feb 3.
Over the last decades, the study of cells, nucleic acid molecules, and proteins has evolved from ensemble measurements to so-called single-entity studies. The latter offers huge benefits, not only as biological research tools to examine heterogeneities among individual entities within a population, but also as biosensing tools for medical diagnostics, which can reach the ultimate sensitivity by detecting single targets. Whereas various techniques for single-entity detection have been reported, this review focuses on microfluidic systems that physically confine single targets in small reaction volumes. We categorize these techniques as droplet-, microchamber-, and nanostructure-based and provide an overview of their implementation for studying single cells, nucleic acids, and proteins. We furthermore reflect on the advantages and limitations of these techniques and highlight future opportunities in the field.
在过去的几十年中，对细胞、核酸分子和蛋白质的研究已经从整体测量发展到所谓的单分子研究。后者具有巨大的优势，不仅可以作为生物研究工具来检查群体中个体之间的异质性，还可以作为医学诊断的生物传感工具，通过检测单个靶标可以达到极高的灵敏度。尽管已经报道了各种用于单分子检测的技术，但本综述侧重于在小反应体积中物理限制单个靶标的微流控系统。我们将这些技术分类为基于液滴、微腔和纳米结构的技术，并提供了它们在研究单细胞、核酸和蛋白质方面的实施情况概述。此外，我们还反思了这些技术的优缺点，并强调了该领域未来的机遇。
