Issue 15, 2014

Deformability-based microfluidic cell pairing and fusion

Abstract

We present a microfluidic cell pairing device capable of sequential trapping and pairing of hundreds of cells using passive hydrodynamics and flow-induced deformation. We describe the design and operation principles of our device and show its applicability for cell fusion. Using our device, we achieved both homotypic and heterotypic cell pairing, demonstrating efficiencies up to 80%. The platform is compatible with fusion protocols based on biological, chemical and physical stimuli with fusion yields up to 95%. Our device further permits its disconnection from the fluidic hardware enabling its transportation for imaging and culture while maintaining cell registration on chip. Our design principles and cell trapping technique can readily be applied for different cell types and can be extended to trap and fuse multiple (>2) cell partners as demonstrated by our preliminary experiments.

Graphical abstract: Deformability-based microfluidic cell pairing and fusion

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Mar 2014
Accepted
20 May 2014
First published
20 May 2014

Lab Chip, 2014,14, 2783-2790

Deformability-based microfluidic cell pairing and fusion

B. Dura, Y. Liu and J. Voldman, Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 2783 DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00303A

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