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 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.
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea. DoHyun.Kim@kaist.ac.kr.
Kyun Joo
KJ
Park
Kyoung G
KG
Lee
Seunghwan
S
Seok
Bong Gill
BG
Choi
Moon-Keun
MK
Lee
Tae Jung
TJ
Park
Jung Youn
JY
Park
Do Hyun
DH
Kim
Seok Jae
SJ
Lee
D018914:Cells, Immobilized / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods
D020100:Hydrogels