A microfluidic cell chip for virus isolation via rapid screening for permissive cells

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Microfluidics
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Accurate virus identification is crucial for diagnosing viral diseases and preventing epidemics.
• Traditional virus cultivation and host-cell screening are time-consuming, reagent-intensive, and labor-intensive processes.
• Koch postulates establish virus cultivation as the gold standard for identification, necessitating efficient methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, easy-to-operate microfluidic chip for parallel cell line seeding and culturing.
• To utilize the microfluidic chip for efficient virus cultivation and screening of virus-permissive host cells.
• To offer a high-throughput, automated, and rapid alternative to traditional plate-based virus identification methods.

Main Methods:

• A microfluidic chip was designed and fabricated for parallel cell line culture.
• The chip was tested using enterovirus 71 (EV71) and influenza virus H1N1.
• Virus-permissive cell lines (RD for EV71, MDCK for H1N1) were identified by observing cytopathic effects (CPE).

Main Results:

• The microfluidic chip successfully supported parallel cultivation of multiple cell lines.
• Infection with EV71 and H1N1 demonstrated significant cytopathic effects in their respective permissive cell lines (RD and MDCK).
• The results confirmed the chip's ability to reproduce typical CPE, validating its use for virus cultivation.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic cell chip serves as an effective substitute for traditional plate-based virus cultivation.
• This technology enables rapid and efficient screening of virus-permissive host cells.
• The microfluidic chip method offers a high-throughput, automated, and fast approach for identifying emerging viruses.