title: Hydrodynamic resettability for a microfluidic particulate-based arraying system.
abstract: Precision hydrodynamic controls of microparticles (e.g., microbeads and cells) are critical to diverse lab-on-a-chip applications. Microfluidic particulate-based arraying techniques are widely used; however, achieving full microarray resettability without sacrificing trapping performance has remained a significant challenge. Here we present a single-layer hydrodynamic methodology for releasing high numbers of microparticles after a microfluidic arraying process. Experiments with suspended streptavidin-coated polystyrene microbeads (15 μm in diameter) revealed resetting efficiencies of 100%, with trapping and loading efficiencies of 99% and 99.8%, respectively. Experiments with suspended endothelial cells (13-17 μm in diameter) revealed trapping efficiencies of 65% and 93% corresponding to arraying of one cell or at least one cell per trap, respectively, with loading efficiencies of 78%. Full cell-based resettability was also observed, with the caveat that reagents that promote cellular detachment from the substrate were required. The presented resettable microarray could be readily integrated into bead-based or cell-based microfluidic platforms to enable: (i) the retrieval of high numbers of microparticles (e.g., for subsequent analyses and/or use in additional experiments), and (ii) microarray reusability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA. rsochol@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ryan D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Sochol
authors.forename: Megan E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Dueck
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Luke P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Liwei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000166:cytology; D002417:Cattle; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008863:Microspheres