533b Microfluidic Chemical Cytometry Based on Modulation of Local Field Strength

Hsiang-Yu Wang, Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906 and Chang Lu, Agriculture and Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906.

In this work, we demonstrate a simple microfluidic device which carries out chemical analysis of single cells at a maximum rate of 75-85 cells/min operated with a single DC power supply and a syringe pump. The fields for electrical lysis of cells and electrophoresis of intracellular materials are designed to have different intensities, determined by the local geometry of the channel. The device was demonstrated using the Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells that loaded with Calcein AM. Loaded cells were transported to a section where they were rapidly lysed by hydrodynamic flow. To lyse cells within 30 ms, 1000 V/cm to 1500 V/cm was required for the operation. However, this field intensity would generate excessive Joule heating if used for electrophoresis, which could undermine the separation efficiency and affect biological activities of the species being assayed. Through the geometry alteration, the high field for cell lysis was confined in a small section of the device and it alleviates the adverse effects from Joule heating and decreases the overall voltage needed for the operation. The lysate from single cells was injected in the separation channel and detected at 400 micometer and 1 cm downstream from the lysis intersection. Our device has the potential for carrying out studies related to single cell proteomics. The simplicity of the device will allow easy scale-up for parallel operations and integration with other devices.