Recovery and isolation of individual microfluidic picoliter droplets by triggered deposition

Microfluidic emulsion-based droplet systems have a great potential for inexpensive ultrahigh-throughput experimentation. Yet, picking and upscaling single unique picoliter-sized droplets of interest out of million others for deeper analysis is still a fundamental limitation. In order to overcome thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2022-10, Vol.369, p.132289, Article 132289
Main Authors: Weber, Thomas, Hengoju, Sundar, Samimi, Ashkan, Roth, Martin, Tovar, Miguel, Rosenbaum, Miriam A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Capillary tubes
Colony isolation
Droplet microfluidics
Droplet recovery
Droplets
Experimentation
Microfluidics
Optical measuring instruments
Recovery
Triggered deposition
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Summary:Microfluidic emulsion-based droplet systems have a great potential for inexpensive ultrahigh-throughput experimentation. Yet, picking and upscaling single unique picoliter-sized droplets of interest out of million others for deeper analysis is still a fundamental limitation. In order to overcome this missing gap, we present a system in which droplets of interest are collected into a collection chamber (DropLot) in high throughput and then slowly redirected to an agar surface or microtiter plate via a capillary tube passing through an optical sensor before exiting. The signal of each droplet triggers a positioning algorithm that ultimately places the flowing droplet at a defined position on a Petri dish or microtiter plate. Results indicate effective isolation of single droplets giving rise to colonies on agar surface with a recovery rate of over 93%. The possibility to isolate individual droplets provides a critical feature for interfacing droplet microfluidics with standard laboratory analysis and processing.
ISSN:0925-4005
1873-3077
DOI:10.1016/j.snb.2022.132289