Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026
A Microfluidic Device for Quantifying Bacterial Chemotaxis in Stable Concentration Gradients
Published on: April 19, 2010
Application of a microfluidic device for counting of bacteria
K-I Inatomi1, S-I Izuo, S-S Lee
1Systems Technology Laboratory, Advanced Technology R & D Center, Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Japan. kinatomi@rite.or.jp
Aims:
To develop a miniaturized analytical system for counting of bacteria.
Methods And Results:
Escherichia coli cells were used throughout the experiments. The system consists of a microfluidic chamber, a fluorescence microscope with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera and syringe pumps. The chamber was made of a silicone rubber (30 x 30 mm and 4 mm high). The E. coli cells were flowed from a micro-nozzle fabricated in the chamber and detected with the CCD camera. The individual cells were indicated as signal peaks on a computer. The cell counts showed a good correlation compared with that of a conventional plate counting method, and results of the simultaneous detection of live and dead cells were also presented.
Conclusions, Significance And Impact Of The Study:
The system having a small disposable nozzle has the advantages for low cost and safe medical or environmental analysis, when compared with a conventional flow cytometer. This is the first step of the development of a one-chip microbe analyzer.
