Abedini-Nassab Roozbeh, Emamgholizadeh Ali
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran P.O. Box 14115-111, Iran.
Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Dec 8;13(12):2177. doi: 10.3390/mi13122177.
Single-cell analysis is an emerging discipline that has shown a transformative impact in cell biology in the last decade. Progress in this field requires systems capable of accurately moving the cells and particles in a controlled manner. Here, we present a microfluidic platform equipped with C-shaped magnetic thin films to precisely transport magnetic particles in a tri-axial rotating magnetic field. This innovative system, compared to the other rivals, offers numerous advantages. The magnetic particles repel each other to prevent undesired cluster formation. Many particles move synced with the external rotating magnetic field, which results in highly parallel controlled particle transport. We show that the particle transport in this system is analogous to electron transport and Ohm's law in electrical circuits. The proposed magnetic transport pattern is carefully studied using both simulations and experiments for various parameters, including the magnetic field characteristics, particle size, and gap size in the design. We demonstrate the appropriate transport of both magnetic beads and magnetized living cells. We also show a pilot mRNA-capturing experiment with barcode-carrying magnetic beads. The introduced chip offers fundamental potential applications in the fields of single-cell biology and bioengineering.
单细胞分析是一门新兴学科，在过去十年中已在细胞生物学领域展现出变革性影响。该领域的进展需要能够以可控方式精确移动细胞和颗粒的系统。在此，我们展示了一个配备C形磁性薄膜的微流控平台，用于在三轴旋转磁场中精确传输磁性颗粒。与其他竞争对手相比，这个创新系统具有众多优势。磁性颗粒相互排斥，可防止形成不需要的团聚物。许多颗粒与外部旋转磁场同步移动，从而实现高度平行的受控颗粒传输。我们表明，该系统中的颗粒传输类似于电路中的电子传输和欧姆定律。针对各种参数，包括磁场特性、颗粒大小和设计中的间隙大小，通过模拟和实验仔细研究了所提出的磁性传输模式。我们展示了磁珠和磁化活细胞的适当传输。我们还展示了一个使用携带条形码的磁珠进行的mRNA捕获初步实验。所介绍的芯片在单细胞生物学和生物工程领域具有潜在的基础应用。
