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Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Silicon Microchips for Manipulating Cell-cell Interaction

Silicon Microchips for Manipulating Cell-cell Interaction

Published on: August 30, 2007

Research highlights: manipulating cells inside and out.

Andy K Tay¹, Manjima Dhar, Ivan Pushkarsky

¹Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA. dicarlo@ucla.edu.

|May 22, 2015

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Micro and nanotechnology enable precise cell manipulation, from isolating circulating tumor cells to controlling protein gradients within cells. These advancements offer new tools and fundamental questions for cell biology research.

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Last Updated: Apr 12, 2026

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Published on: August 30, 2007

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Published on: May 12, 2018

Area of Science:

Biotechnology
Cell Biology
Micro/Nanotechnology

Background:

Micro and nanotechnology advancements are enabling unprecedented control over cellular and subcellular processes.
Traditional methods often lack the precision required for complex cellular manipulations.

Purpose of the Study:

To highlight recent breakthroughs in cell manipulation techniques.
To demonstrate how micro/nanotechnology interfaces with cellular scales to unlock new biological insights.

Main Methods:

Acoustic node manipulation using interdigitated electrode arrays for cell isolation.
Pulsed laser-induced bubble generation for high-throughput cell transfection.
Magnetic nanoparticle-based techniques for intracellular protein localization.

Main Results:

Successful isolation of circulating tumor cells from blood samples.
Parallel transfection of hundreds of thousands of cells with large cargo like bacteria.
Precise localization of cytoplasmic proteins in gradient configurations.

Conclusions:

Interfacing at the cellular scale via micro/nanotechnology provides novel capabilities for cell biologists.
These techniques facilitate the exploration of fundamental cell biology questions.
The reviewed methods showcase the power of scale matching in biological research.