Spatio-temporal detachment of single cells using microarrayed transparent electrodes

This paper describes a dynamic cell manipulation approach by which cells can be selectively detached from transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes via electrochemical desorption of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of alkanethiol. Changes in the surface properties of ITO following modification and electrical desorption of the SAM were characterized. By using these reactions on ITO, cells were readily attached and then detached from ITO electrodes in a very rapid manner, with greater than 90% of the cells being detached within 5 min. Furthermore, we fabricated micropatterns of ITO electrodes using photolithography. Cells on the micropatterned ITO electrodes could be detached with single-cell resolution. This approach could potentially lead to on-demand harvesting or elimination of one population from others under microscopy, for a wide range of purposes.