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Single-Cell Biophysics: Measurement, Modulation, and Modeling
Poster Abstracts
126
56-POS
Board 28
A Microfluidic Pipette Array and Compression Device for Mechanical Perturbation of
Single Cells
Kenneth Ho
1
, Lap Man Lee
1
,
Allen Liu
1,2,3
.
1
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA,
2
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI,
USA,
3
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
The proper responses of the cells to mechanical stimuli are important in numerous physiological
processes. With the development of microsystem engineering tools, controlled and repeatable
application of active mechanical input to single cells is becoming more available. Several
microfluidic platforms have been developed for mechanotransduction research over the last
decade that mainly focus on applying a single mechanical perturbation and often to a population
of cells. Here we develop a multilayer microfluidic device using soft lithography with the goal of
applying controlled aspiration and compression to single cells. The device, called microfluidic
pipette array and compression (µFPAnC), consists of a flow channel with trapping cups that have
narrow microchannels to the side to serve as aspiration micropipettes. Two independent
pneumatically controlled valves above the flow channel serve to facilitate single cell loading and
compression when they are actuated. The design enabled us to perform mechanical
measurements of single cells at a higher throughput compared to manual micropipette aspiration.
We characterized the stiffness of normal breast epithelial cells and breast cancer epithelial cells
and found the cancer cells are two times softer than their normal counterpart. Compression in the
normal direction is also a unique feature of this novel setup and we were able to perform static
and cyclic compression at various amplitudes and frequencies. The development of µFPAnC will
provide ample opportunities for single cell mechanotransduction research.