Selective single cell detachment and retrieval for downstream analyses using nanosecond laser pulses in cnt-coated microwell arrays

Abstract

Cellular heterogeneity is one of the key hallmarks in cancer biology, but conventional dish-based assays only report the average behavior of many cells. Microfluidics can facilitate manipulating and monitoring of individual cells, yet it is difficult to retrieve a specific target single cell from an enclosed microfluidic chip. In this work, we have successfully developed a selective cell detachment and retrieval scheme with a spatial resolution of around 10μm. The retrieved cells were proved to be viable, and the detachment process has negligible effect on membrane proteins and mRNA expression, providing an ideal tools for the downstream analysis of target cells.