title: A microfluidic "baby machine" for cell synchronization.
abstract: Common techniques used to synchronize eukaryotic cells in the cell cycle often impose metabolic stress on the cells or physically select for size rather than age. To address these deficiencies, a minimally perturbing method known as the "baby machine" was developed previously. In the technique, suspension cells are attached to a membrane, and as the cells divide, the newborn cells are eluted to produce a synchronous population of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. However, the existing "baby machine" is only suitable for cells which can be chemically attached to a surface. Here, we present a microfluidic "baby machine" in which cells are held onto a surface by pressure differences rather than chemical attachment. As a result, our method can in principle be used to synchronize a variety of cell types, including cells which may have weak or unknown surface attachment chemistries. We validate our microfluidic "baby machine" by using it to produce a synchronous population of newborn L1210 mouse lymphocytic leukemia cells in G1 phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Josephine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Kristofor
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Payer
authors.forename: Sungmin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.forename: Scott R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Manalis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival; D004867:Equipment Design; D016193:G1 Phase; D007939:Leukemia L1210 / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*