title: An on-chip imaging droplet-sorting system: a real-time shape recognition method to screen target cells in droplets with single cell resolution.
abstract: A microfluidic on-chip imaging cell sorter has several advantages over conventional cell sorting methods, especially to identify cells with complex morphologies such as clusters. One of the remaining problems is how to efficiently discriminate targets at the species level without labelling. Hence, we developed a label-free microfluidic droplet-sorting system based on image recognition of cells in droplets. To test the applicability of this method, a mixture of two plankton species with different morphologies (Dunaliella tertiolecta and Phaeodactylum tricornutum) were successfully identified and discriminated at a rate of 10 Hz. We also examined the ability to detect the number of objects encapsulated in a droplet. Single cell droplets sorted into collection channels showed 91 ± 4.5% and 90 ± 3.8% accuracy for D. tertiolecta and P. tricornutum, respectively. Because we used image recognition to confirm single cell droplets, we achieved highly accurate single cell sorting. The results indicate that the integrated method of droplet imaging cell sorting can provide a complementary sorting approach capable of isolating single target cells from a mixture of cells with high accuracy without any staining.
authors.affiliation: French National Center for Scientific Research, Bordeaux, CRPP, UPR 8641, Pessac, 33600, France.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Girault
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba 305-8565, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hyonchol
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Ocean Sciences, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisayuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.affiliation: Waseda Bioscience Research Institute in Singapore (WABIOS), 11 Biopolis Way, Helios 138667, Singapore/3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuura
authors.affiliation: Waseda Bioscience Research Institute in Singapore (WABIOS), 11 Biopolis Way, Helios 138667, Singapore/3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Odaka
authors.affiliation: Waseda Bioscience Research Institute in Singapore (WABIOS), 11 Biopolis Way, Helios 138667, Singapore/3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.affiliation: Waseda Bioscience Research Institute in Singapore (WABIOS), 11 Biopolis Way, Helios 138667, Singapore/3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Terazono
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yasuda
mesh_terms: D002469:Cell Separation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D048430:Cell Shape; D017377:Diatoms / Q000166:cytology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods*; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D016823:Volvocida / Q000166:cytology