title: A system for high-speed microinjection of adherent cells.
abstract: This paper reports on a semi-automated microrobotic system for adherent cell injection. Different from embryos/oocytes that have a spherical shape and regular morphology, adherent cells are flat with a thickness of a few micrometers and are highly irregular in morphology. Based on computer vision microscopy and motion control, the system coordinately controls a three-degrees-of-freedom microrobot and a precision XY stage, demonstrating an injection speed of 25 endothelial cells per minute with a survival rate of 95.7% and a success rate of 82.4% (n=1012). The system has a high degree of performance consistency. It is operator skill independent and immune from human fatigue, only requiring a human operator to select injection destinations through computer mouse clicking as the only operator intervention. The microrobotic system makes the injection of a large number of adherent cells practical for testing cellular responses to foreign molecules.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. wenhui.wang@canterbury.ac.nz
authors.forename: Wenhui
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Lowell
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Langille
authors.forename: Warren
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000166:cytology; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D004867:Equipment Design; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000378:metabolism; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007700:Kinetics; D008845:Microinjections / Q000379:methods*; D008846:Micromanipulation; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008954:Models, Biological; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine; D014343:Trypan Blue / Q000378:metabolism; D014966:Xanthenes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D014966:Xanthenes; C034657:Texas red; D014343:Trypan Blue