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Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Polydimethylsiloxane-polycarbonate Microfluidic Devices for Cell Migration Studies Under Perpendicular Chemical and Oxygen Gradients
Published on: February 23, 2017
Mobility Gradient Induces Cross-Streamline Migration of Semiflexible Polymers
Dagmar Steinhauser1, Sarah Köster2, Thomas Pfohl1,3
1Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, Bunsenstrasse 10, 37073 Göttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
Many aspects of modern material science and biology rely on the strategic manipulation and understanding of polymer dynamics in confining micro- and nanoflow. We directly observe and analyze nonequilibrium structural and dynamic properties of individual semiflexible actin filaments in pressure-driven microfluidic channel flow using fluorescence microscopy. Different conformational shapes, such as filaments fluctuating in an elongated manner, parabolically bent, as well as tumbling, are identified. With increasing flow velocity, a strong center-of-mass migration toward the channel walls is observed. This significant migration effect can be explained by a shear rate dependent spatial diffusivity due to a gradient in chain mobility of the semiflexible polymers.
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