State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instrument , Tsinghua University , Beijing , 100084 , China.
Anal Chem. 2019 Apr 2;91(7):4479-4487. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b05228. Epub 2019 Mar 21.
These days, multiplex assay with diverse functions on a single chip has become more and more imperative for biological cell research. Multipoint and multistep manipulation for single cells on a chip plays a significant role for cell characterization, immunoassays, and rare cell isolation, etc. In this article, a novel dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based manipulation method is proposed to flexibly move and position cells on a chip via applying various electrical signals onto microelectrodes. By modulating phases and amplitudes of alternating current (ac) signals applied onto the microelectrodes, single cells can be controllably moved from one position to another along diverse directions on a chip. Quantitative analysis is conducted for position and direction controls via simulation, which are validated through experiments. With this flexible manipulation method, single-cell biophysical parameters can be estimated in situ by moving the cell, and as an example, single HeLa and MCF-7 cells are measured. This method allows an efficient and flexible transportation of single cells in lab-on-a-chip systems and provides a fundamental platform for multioriented and multipoint manipulation. The chip is easy to scale up by means of array design for more multifunctional cell assays.
如今，在单个芯片上进行具有多种功能的多重分析已成为生物细胞研究越来越重要的需求。在芯片上对单个细胞进行多点和多步操作对于细胞特征分析、免疫分析和稀有细胞分离等具有重要意义。本文提出了一种基于电（DEP）的新型操纵方法，通过在微电极上施加各种电信号，灵活地在芯片上移动和定位细胞。通过调制施加到微电极上的交流（ac）信号的相位和幅度，可以将单个细胞从一个位置可控地移动到芯片上的不同方向。通过模拟进行位置和方向控制的定量分析，并通过实验进行验证。利用这种灵活的操作方法，可以通过移动细胞原位估计单个细胞的生物物理参数，并举例测量单个 HeLa 和 MCF-7 细胞。该方法允许在芯片实验室系统中高效灵活地运输单个细胞，并为多方向和多点操作提供了基本平台。该芯片可以通过阵列设计很容易地扩展，以实现更多的多功能细胞分析。
