Label-free isolation of single cells is essential for the growing field of single-cell analysis. Here, we present a device which prints single living cells encapsulated in free-flying picoliter droplets. It combines inkjet printing and impedance flow cytometry. Droplet volume can be controlled in the range of 500 pl–800 pl by piezo actuator displacement. Two sets of parallel facing electrodes in a 50 μm × 55 μm channel are applied to measure the presence and velocity of a single cell in real-time. Polystyrene beads with <5% variation in diameter generated signal variations of 12%–17% coefficients of variation. Single bead efficiency (i.e., printing events with single beads vs. total number of printing events) was 73% ± 11% at a throughput of approximately 9 events/min. Viability of printed HeLa cells and human primary fibroblasts was demonstrated by culturing cells for at least eight days.
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January 2015
Research Article|
February 11 2015
Single-cell printing based on impedance detection
J. Schoendube;
J. Schoendube
a)
1Laboratory for MEMS Applications, Department of Microsystems Engineering—IMTEK,
University of Freiburg
, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
2
cytena GmbH
, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
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D. Wright;
D. Wright
3
Zurich Instruments AG
, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland
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R. Zengerle;
R. Zengerle
1Laboratory for MEMS Applications, Department of Microsystems Engineering—IMTEK,
University of Freiburg
, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
2
cytena GmbH
, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
4
HSG-IMIT
, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
5BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies,
University of Freiburg
, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
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P. Koltay
P. Koltay
1Laboratory for MEMS Applications, Department of Microsystems Engineering—IMTEK,
University of Freiburg
, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
6
BioFluidiX GmbH
, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
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a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: jonas.schoendube@imtek.de
Biomicrofluidics 9, 014117 (2015)
Article history
Received:
December 07 2014
Accepted:
January 29 2015
Citation
J. Schoendube, D. Wright, R. Zengerle, P. Koltay; Single-cell printing based on impedance detection. Biomicrofluidics 1 January 2015; 9 (1): 014117. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4907896
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