Single cell trapping (PDMS/glass chips)

The microfluidic devices pictured below were designed and fabricated by Customized Microfluidics. The first shows an overview of the PDMS single cell array chip, with a filtration stage on the left side and the single cell array, on the right side, comprising of 800 traps. Thre second shows a magnified view of the trapping area with trapped single cells.

The PDMS was fabricated using standard soft lithography, with a two-layer SU-8 mould to define channels and single-cell traps. Similar cell trapping devices and their applications can be found in published works such as:

• Luan Q, Macaraniag C, Zhou J, Papautsky I. Microfluidic systems for hydrodynamic trapping of cells and clusters. Biomicrofluidics. 2020;14(3):031502. (Link here). Note: The microfluidic devices used in this publication were neither designed nor fabricated by Customized Microfluidics.

2 photon-polymerization (2PP), a new technique available at Customized Microfluidics can produce similar structures in a much shorter time. 2PP is a high-resolution 3D printing technique that can resolve sub-micron structures. As shown below, single cell traps can be directly printed on a glass substrate. 10um red particles were used to mimic the trapping mechanism.

This fabrication technique can bring a high degree of freedom to the channel design and configurations (e.g. three inlets with one outlet or three outlets). Polyimide was chosen as it shows high compatibility with X-ray analysis. Customized Microfluidics also designed and fabricated chip holders that are compatible with beam line apparatus.