Micro/Nanofluidic Device for Single-Cell-Based Assay

In this paper we have proposed and demonstrated a microfluidic device for a fast and parallel single-cell based assay. The proposed device is designed to passively capture single-cells or beads on multiple cell-positioning sites by a pre-defined fluidic stream and inject specific reagents or drugs onto each isolated single-cell. The device consists of surface-modified silicon channels capped with a grooved polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) cover layer. A cell capture experiment has been performed using polystyrene beads as well as CHO DG44 living cells, and successful positioning of a single-cell on the cell-positioning sites was achieved. Also, we have demonstrated independent drug injection into a specific target cell.