High-throughput microfluidic single-cell trapping arrays for biomolecular and imaging analysis

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Cell Biology
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Single-cell analysis is crucial for understanding cellular heterogeneity and identifying rare cell populations.
• Microfluidic platforms offer precise manipulation at the cellular scale, ideal for single-cell studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel microfluidic trapping array for efficient and controlled single-cell capture.
• To demonstrate the array's integration with advanced techniques for molecular and live-cell analysis.

Main Methods:

• Design and fabrication of a microfluidic trapping array with highly-packed microwells.
• Integration with dielectrophoretic nanotweezers (DENT) for single-cell mRNA probing.
• Combination with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) for live-cell real-time imaging.

Main Results:

• The microfluidic trapping array achieves rapid and deterministic trapping of single cells.
• Successful demonstration of single-cell mRNA probing and live-cell imaging applications.
• High trapping efficiency independent of flow rate, allowing versatile integration.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic trapping array is a versatile tool for diverse single-cell analyses.
• Its design facilitates robust single-cell isolation for downstream applications like transcriptomics and live imaging.
• This technology enhances the capability to study individual cell characteristics and population dynamics.