Micropillar arrays enabling single microbial cell encapsulation in hydrogels

Single microbial cell encapsulation in hydrogels is an important task to find valuable biological resources for human welfare. The conventional microfluidic designs are mainly targeted only for highly dispersed spherical bioparticles. Advanced structures should be taken into consideration for handli...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lab on a chip 2014-06, Vol.14 (11), p.1873-1879
Main Authors: Park, Kyun Joo, Lee, Kyoung G, Seok, Seunghwan, Choi, Bong Gill, Lee, Moon-Keun, Park, Tae Jung, Park, Jung Youn, Kim, Do Hyun, Lee, Seok Jae
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arrays
Cells, Immobilized - cytology
Cells, Immobilized - metabolism
Clusters
Devices
Encapsulation
Escherichia
Escherichia coli - cytology
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli - metabolism
Humans
Hydrodynamics
Hydrogels
Hydrogels - chemistry
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - instrumentation
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - methods
Microfluidics
Microorganisms
Sieves
Tissue Array Analysis - instrumentation
Tissue Array Analysis - methods
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Summary:Single microbial cell encapsulation in hydrogels is an important task to find valuable biological resources for human welfare. The conventional microfluidic designs are mainly targeted only for highly dispersed spherical bioparticles. Advanced structures should be taken into consideration for handling such aggregated and non-spherical microorganisms. Here, to address the challenge, we propose a new type of cylindrical-shaped micropillar array in a microfluidic device for enhancing the dispersion of cell clusters and the isolation of individual cells into individual micro-hydrogels for potential practical applications. The incorporated micropillars act as a sieve for the breaking of Escherichia coli (E. coli) clusters into single cells in a polymer mixture. Furthermore, the combination of hydrodynamic forces and a flow-focusing technique will improve the probability of encapsulation of a single cell into each hydrogel with a broad range of cell concentrations. This proposed strategy and device would be a useful platform for genetically modified microorganisms for practical applications.
ISSN:1473-0197
1473-0189
DOI:10.1039/c4lc00070f