Microfluidic chip system for the selection and enrichment of cell binding aptamers

Aptamers are promising cell targeting ligands for several applications such as for the diagnosis, therapy, and drug delivery. Especially, in the field of regenerative medicine, stem cell specific aptamers have an enormous potential. Using the combinatorial chemistry process SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential enrichment), aptamers are selected from a huge oligonucleotide library consisting of approximately 10¹⁵ different oligonucleotides. Here, we developed a microfluidic chip system that can be used for the selection of cell specific aptamers. The major drawbacks of common cell-SELEX methods are the inefficient elimination of the unspecifically bound oligonucleotides from the cell surface and the unspecific binding/uptake of oligonucleotides by dead cells. To overcome these obstacles, a microfluidic device, which enables the simultaneous performance of dielectrophoresis and electrophoresis in the same device, was designed. Using this system, viable cells can be selectively assembled by dielectrophoresis between the electrodes and then incubated with the oligonucleotides. To reduce the rate of unspecifically bound sequences, electrophoretic fields can be applied in order to draw loosely bound oligonucleotides away from the cells. Furthermore, by increasing the flow rate in the chip during the iterative rounds of SELEX, the selection pressure can be improved and aptamers with higher affinities and specificities can be obtained. This new microfluidic device has a tremendous capability to improve the cell-SELEX procedure and to select highly specific aptamers.     

Characterization of microfluidic shear-dependent epithelial cell adhesion molecule immunocapture and enrichment of pancreatic cancer cells from blood cells with dielectrophoresis

Current microfluidic techniques for isolating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from cancer patient blood are limited by low capture purity, and dielectrophoresis (DEP) has the potential to complement existing immunocapture techniques to improve capture performance. We present a hybrid DEP and immunocapture Hele-Shaw flow cell to characterize DEP''s effects on immunocapture of pancreatic cancer cells (Capan-1, PANC-1, and BxPC-3) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with an anti-EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) antibody. By carefully specifying the applied electric field frequency, we demonstrate that pancreatic cancer cells are attracted to immunocapture surfaces by positive DEP whereas PBMCs are repelled by negative DEP. Using an exponential capture model to interpret our capture data, we show that immunocapture performance is dependent on the applied DEP force sign and magnitude, cell surface EpCAM expression level, and shear stress experienced by cells flowing in the capture device. Our work suggests that DEP can not only repel contaminating blood cells but also enhance capture of cancer cell populations that are less likely to be captured by traditional immunocapture methods. This combination of DEP and immunocapture techniques to potentially increase CTC capture purity can facilitate subsequent biological analyses of captured CTCs and research on cancer metastasis and drug therapies.     

Sorting of circulating tumor cells (MV3-melanoma) and red blood cells using non-inertial lift

We demonstrate the method of non-inertial lift induced cell sorting (NILICS), a continuous, passive, and label-free cell sorting approach in a simple single layer microfluidic device at low Reynolds number flow conditions. In the experiments, we exploit the non-inertial lift effect to sort circulating MV3-melanoma cells from red blood cell suspensions at different hematocrits as high as 9%. We analyze the separation process and the influence of hematocrit and volume flow rates. We achieve sorting efficiencies for MV3-cells up to E_MV3 = 100% at Hct = 9% and demonstrate cell viability by recultivation of the sorted cells.     

Magnetographic array for the capture and enumeration of single cells and cell pairs

We present a simple microchip device consisting of an overlaid pattern of micromagnets and microwells capable of capturing magnetically labeled cells into well-defined compartments (with accuracies >95%). Its flexible design permits the programmable deposition of single cells for their direct enumeration and pairs of cells for the detailed analysis of cell-cell interactions. This cell arraying device requires no external power and can be operated solely with permanent magnets. Large scale image analysis of cells captured in this array can yield valuable information (e.g., regarding various immune parameters such as the CD4:CD8 ratio) in a miniaturized and portable platform.The emergent need for point-of-care devices has spurred development of simplified platforms to organize cells across well-defined templates.¹ These devices employ passive microwells, immunospecific adhesive islands, and electric, optical, and acoustic traps to manipulate cells.^2–6 In contrast, magnetic templating can control the spatial organization of cells through its ability to readily program ferromagnetic memory states.⁷ While it has been applied to control the deposition of magnetic beads,^8–13 it has not been used to direct the deposition of heterogeneous cell pairs, which may help provide critical insight into the function of single cells.^14,15 As such, we developed a simple magnetographic device capable of arraying single cells and pairs of cells with high fidelity. We show this magnetic templating tool can use immunospecific magnetic labels for both the isolation of cells from blood and their organization into spatially defined wells.We used standard photolithographic techniques to fabricate the microchips (see supplementary material¹⁶). Briefly, an array of 10 × 30 μm cobalt micromagnets were patterned by a photolithographic liftoff process and overlaid with a pattern of dumbbell-shaped microwells formed in SU-8 photoresist (Fig. 1(a)). The micromagnets were designed to produce a predominantly vertical field in the microwells by aligning the ends of the micromagnet at the center of each well of the dumbbell. These features were deposited across an area of ≈400 mm² (>50 000 well pairs per microchip) (Fig. 1(b)). Depending on the programmed magnetization state with respect to the external field, magnetic beads or cells were attracted to one pole and repelled by the other pole of each micromagnet, leading to a biased deposition (Fig. 1(c)).¹²Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.Magnetographic array for single cell analysis. (a) SEM image of the dumbbell-shaped well pairs for capturing magnetically labelled cells. (b) Photograph of the finished device. (c) An array of well pairs displaying a pitch of 60 × 120 μm before (top) and 10 min after the deposition of magnetic beads (bottom).To demonstrate the capability of the array to capture cells into a format amenable for rapid image processing, we organized CD3+ lymphocytes using only hand-held permanent magnets. We isolated CD3+ lymphocytes from blood via positive selection using anti-CD3 magnetic nanoparticles (EasySep™, STEMCELL Technologies) with purities confirmed by flow cytometry (97.8%; see supplementary material¹⁶). We then stained 1 × 10⁶ CD3+ cells with anti-CD8 Alexa-488 and anti-CD4 Alexa-647 (5 μl of each antibody in 100 μl for 20 min; BD Bioscience) to determine the CD4:CD8 ratio, a prognostic ratio for assessing the immune system.^17,18Variably spaced neodymium magnets (0.5 in. × 0.5 in. × 1 in.; K&J Magnetics, Inc.) were fixed on either side of the microchip to generate a tunable magnetic field (0–400 G; Fig. 2(a)). Using this setup, fluorescently labeled cells were deposited, and the populations of CD4+ and CD8+ cells were indiscriminately arrayed, imaged, and enumerated using ImageJ. The resulting CD4:CD8 ratio of 1.84 ± 0.18 (Fig. 2(b)) was confirmed by flow cytometry with a high correlation (5.4% difference; Fig. 2(c)), indicating the magnetographic microarray can pattern cells for the rapid and accurate assessment of critical phenotypical parameters without complex equipment (e.g., function generators or flow cytometers).Open in a separate windowFIG. 2.CD8 analysis of CD3+ lymphocytes. (a) Photograph of the magnetographic device activated by permanent magnets (covered with green tape). The CD4:CD8 ratio determined by the (b) magnetographic microarray and (c) and (d) flow cytometry was 1.84 and 1.74, respectively.More complex operations, such as the programmed deposition of cell pairs, can be achieved by leveraging the switchable, bistable magnetization of the micromagnets for the detailed studies of cell-cell interactions (Figs. 3(a)–3(d)).¹² For these studies, a 200 G horizontal field generated from an electromagnetic coil was used to magnetize the micromagnets.¹⁹ We then captured different concentrations of magnetic beads as surrogates for cells (8.4 μm polystyrene, Spherotech, Inc.) and found that higher bead concentrations did not affect the capture accuracy (>95%; see supplementary material¹⁶).Open in a separate windowFIG. 3.Programmed pairing of magnetic beads and CD3+ lymphocytes. (a) Schematic of the magnetographic cell pair isolations. (b) Polarized micromagnets isolate cells of one type to one side in a vertical magnetic field and then cells of a second type to the other side when the field is reversed. (c) Fluorescent image of magnetically trapped green stained (top) and red stained (bottom) cell pairs. (d) SEM image of magnetically labeled cells in the microwells. (e) Capture accuracy of magnetic bead pairs. (Each color (and shape) represents the field strength of the reversed field.) (f) Change in the capture accuracy (loss) of initially captured beads after reversing the magnetic field. The capture accuracy of (g) magnetically labeled cell pairs and (h) the second magnetically labeled cell (for (e)–(h): n = 5; time starts from the deposition of the second set of cells or beads).The opposite side of each micromagnet was then populated with the second (yellow fluorescent) bead by reversing the direction of the applied magnetic field. We tested several field strengths (i.e., 10, 25, 40, or 55 G) to optimize the conditions for isolating the desired bead in the opposite well without ejecting the first bead. If the field strength was too large, the previously deposited beads could be ejected from their wells due to the repulsive magnetic force overcoming gravity.¹² As shown in Figure 3(e), increasing the field strength from 10 to 25 G significantly increased the capture accuracy at 60 min from the deposition of the second bead (p < 0.01), but increases from 25 to 55 G did not affect the capture accuracy (p > 0.10). As shown in Figure 3(f), higher field strengths (i.e., 40 and 55 G) resulted in lower capture accuracies compared to lower field strengths (i.e., 10 and 25 G) (p < 0.01), which was primarily due to ejection of the initially captured beads when the micromagnets reversed their polarity.We then arranged pairs of membrane dyed (calcein AM, Invitrogen; PKH26, Sigma) magnetically labeled CD3+ lymphocytes. First, red stained cells (150 μl of 2 × 10⁴ cells/ml) were deposited on the microchip in the presence of 250 G vertical magnetic field. After 20 min, the field was reversed (i.e., to 40, 55, and 70 G) and green stained cells (150 μl of 2 × 10⁴ cells/ml) were deposited on the microchip with images taken in 10 min intervals. Fluorescence images were overlaid (Fig. 3(c)) and the capture accuracy of cell pairs was determined (ImageJ).As seen in Figure 3(g), the capture accuracy of pairs of CD3+ lymphocytes was lower than that of magnetic beads (Fig. 3(e)). However, as shown in Figure 3(h), the second set of cells (green fluorescent) exhibited an average capture accuracy of 91.8% ± 1.9%. This indicates that the lower capture accuracy of cell pairs was either due to the ejection of initially captured (red fluorescent) cells or the migration of initially captured cells through the connecting channel, resulting from their relatively high deformability compared to magnetic beads.In summary, we developed a simple device capable of organizing magnetic particles, cells, and pairs of cells into well-defined compartments. A major advantage of this system is the use of specific magnetic labels to both isolate cells and program their deposition. While the design of this device does not enable dynamic control of the spacing between captured cell pairs as does some dielectrophoresis-based devices,²⁰ it can easily capture cells with high fidelity using only permanent magnets and has clinical relevance in the assessment of immune parameters. These demonstrations potentiate a relatively simple and robust device where highly organized spatial arrangement of cells facilitates rapid and accurate analyses towards a functional and low-cost point-of-care device.     

Cascaded spiral microfluidic device for deterministic and high purity continuous separation of circulating tumor cells

Inertial microfluidics is an emerging class of technologies developed to separate circulating tumor cells (CTCs). However, defining design parameters and flow conditions for optimal operation remains nondeterministic due to incomplete understanding of the mechanics, which has led to challenges in designing efficient systems. Here, we perform a parametric study of the inertial focusing effects observed in low aspect ratio curvilinear microchannels and utilize the results to demonstrate the isolation of CTCs with high purity. First, we systematically vary parameters including the channel height, width, and radius of curvature over a wide range of flow velocities to analyze its effect on size dependent differential focusing and migration behaviors of binary (10 μm and 20 μm) particles. Second, we use these results to identify optimal flow regimes to achieve maximum separation in various channel configurations and establish design guidelines to readily provide information for developing spiral channels tailored to potentially arbitrary flow conditions that yield a desired equilibrium position for optimal size based CTC separation. Finally, we describe a fully integrated, sheath-less cascaded spiral microfluidic device to continuously isolate CTCs. Human breast cancer epithelial cells were successfully extracted from leukocytes, achieving 86.76% recovery, 97.91% depletion rate, and sustaining high viability upon collection to demonstrate the versatility of the device. Importantly, this device was designed without the cumbersome trail-and-error optimization process that has hindered the development of designing such inertial microfluidic systems.     

Herceptin functionalized microfluidic polydimethylsiloxane devices for the capture of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive circulating breast cancer cells

Building on recent breakthroughs in the field of microfluidic-based capture of rare cancer cells circulating in the blood, the present article reports on the use of Herceptin functionalized PDMS devices designed to efficiently capture from blood cancer cells, overexpressing the tyrosine kinase human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2). The identification of patients overexpressing HER2 is critical as it typically associates with an aggressive disease course in breast cancer and poor prognosis. Importantly, HER2 positive patients have been found to significantly benefit from Herceptin (Trastuzumab), a humanized monoclonal antibody (MAb) against HER2. Disposable PDMS devices prepared using standard soft lithography were functionalized by the plasma polymerization of an epoxy-containing monomer. The epoxy-rich thin film (AGEpp) thus created could be conjugated with Herceptin either directly or through a polyethylene glycol interlayer. The properties and reactivity toward the monoclonal antibody conjugation of these coatings were determined using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; direct conjugation provided a good compromise in reactivity and resistance to biologically nonspecific fouling and was selected. Using the breast cancer cell line SK-BR-3 as a model for cells overexpressing HER2, the immunocapture efficacy of the Herceptin functionalized PDMS was demonstrated in model studies. Validation studies confirmed the ability of the device to efficiently capture (～80% capture yield) HER2 positive cells from full blood.     

Isolation of cells for selective treatment and analysis using a magnetic microfluidic chip

This study describes the development and testing of a magnetic microfluidic chip (MMC) for trapping and isolating cells tagged with superparamagnetic beads (SPBs) in a microfluidic environment for selective treatment and analysis. The trapping and isolation are done in two separate steps; first, the trapping of the tagged cells in a main channel is achieved by soft ferromagnetic disks and second, the transportation of the cells into side chambers for isolation is executed by tapered conductive paths made of Gold (Au). Numerical simulations were performed to analyze the magnetic flux and force distributions of the disks and conducting paths, for trapping and transporting SPBs. The MMC was fabricated using standard microfabrication processes. Experiments were performed with E. coli (K12 strand) tagged with 2.8 μm SPBs. The results showed that E. coli can be separated from a sample solution by trapping them at the disk sites, and then isolated into chambers by transporting them along the tapered conducting paths. Once the E. coli was trapped inside the side chambers, two selective treatments were performed. In one chamber, a solution with minimal nutrition content was added and, in another chamber, a solution with essential nutrition was added. The results showed that the growth of bacteria cultured in the second chamber containing nutrient was significantly higher, demonstrating that the E. coli was not affected by the magnetically driven transportation and the feasibility of performing different treatments on selectively isolated cells on a single microfluidic platform.     

A negative-pressure-driven microfluidic chip for the rapid detection of a bladder cancer biomarker in urine using bead-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

This paper describes an integrated microfluidic chip that is capable of rapidly and quantitatively measuring the concentration of a bladder cancer biomarker, apolipoprotein A1, in urine samples. All of the microfluidic components, including the fluid transport system, the micro-valve, and the micro-mixer, were driven by negative pressure, which simplifies the use of the chip and facilitates commercialization. Magnetic beads were used as a solid support for the primary antibody, which captured apolipoprotein A1 in patients'' urine. Because of the three-dimensional structure of the magnetic beads, the concentration range of the target that could be detected was as high as 2000 ng ml⁻¹. Because this concentration is 100 times higher than that quantifiable using a 96-well plate with the same enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, the dilution of the patient''s urine can be avoided or greatly reduced. The limit of detection was determined to be approximately 10 ng ml⁻¹, which is lower than the cutoff value for diagnosing bladder cancer (11.16 ng ml⁻¹). When the values measured using the microfluidic chip were compared with those measured using conventional ELISA using a 96-well plate for five patients, the deviations were 0.9%, 6.8%, 9.4%, 1.8%, and 5.8%. The entire measurement time is 6-fold faster than that of conventional ELISA. This microfluidic device shows significant potential for point-of-care applications.     

Label-free isolation of a prostate cancer cell among blood cells and the single-cell measurement of drug accumulation using an integrated microfluidic chip

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are found in the blood of patients with cancer. Although these cells are rare, they can provide useful information for chemotherapy. However, isolation of these rare cells from blood is technically challenging because they are small in numbers. An integrated microfluidic chip, dubbed CTC chip, was designed and fabricated for conducting tumor cell isolation. As CTCs usually show multidrug resistance (MDR), the effect of MDR inhibitors on chemotherapeutic drug accumulation in the isolated single tumor cell is measured. As a model of CTC isolation, human prostate cancer cells were mixed with mouse blood cells and the label-free isolation of the tumor cells was conducted based on cell size difference. The major advantages of the CTC chip are the ability for fast cell isolation, followed by multiple rounds of single-cell measurements, suggesting a potential assay for detecting the drug responses based on the liquid biopsy of cancer patients.     

A tapered channel microfluidic device for comprehensive cell adhesion analysis, using measurements of detachment kinetics and shear stress-dependent motion

We have developed a method for studying cellular adhesion by using a custom-designed microfluidic device with parallel non-connected tapered channels. The design enables investigation of cellular responses to a large range of shear stress (ratio of 25) with a single input flow-rate. For each shear stress, a large number of cells are analyzed (500–1500 cells), providing statistically relevant data within a single experiment. Besides adhesion strength measurements, the microsystem presented in this paper enables in-depth analysis of cell detachment kinetics by real-time videomicroscopy. It offers the possibility to analyze adhesion-associated processes, such as migration or cell shape change, within the same experiment. To show the versatility of our device, we examined quantitatively cell adhesion by analyzing kinetics, adhesive strength and migration behaviour or cell shape modifications of the unicellular model cell organism Dictyostelium discoideum at 21 °C and of the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 at 37 °C. For both cell types, we found that the threshold stresses, which are necessary to detach the cells, follow lognormal distributions, and that the detachment process follows first order kinetics. In addition, for particular conditions’ cells are found to exhibit similar adhesion threshold stresses, but very different detachment kinetics, revealing the importance of dynamics analysis to fully describe cell adhesion. With its rapid implementation and potential for parallel sample processing, such microsystem offers a highly controllable platform for exploring cell adhesion characteristics in a large set of environmental conditions and cell types, and could have wide applications across cell biology, tissue engineering, and cell screening.     

Separation of sperm and epithelial cells based on the hydrodynamic effect for forensic analysis

In sexual assault cases, forensic samples are a mixture of sperm from the perpetrator and epithelial cells from the victim. To obtain an independent short tandem repeat (STR) profile of the perpetrator, sperm cells must be separated from the mixture of cells. However, the current method used in crime laboratories, namely, differential extraction, is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. To achieve a rapid and automated sample pretreatment process, we fabricated a microdevice for hydrodynamic and size-based separation of sperm and epithelial cells. When cells in suspension were introduced into the device''s microfluidic channels, they were forced to flow along different streamlines and into different outlets due to their different diameters. With the proposed microdevice, sperm can be separated within a short period of time (0.5 h for a 50-μl mock sample). The STR profiles of the products in the sperm outlet reservoir demonstrated that a highly purified male DNA fraction could be obtained (94.0% male fraction). This microdevice is of low-cost and can be easily integrated with other subsequent analysis units, providing great potential in the process of analyzing sexual assault evidence as well as in other areas requiring cell sorting.     

Inverting microwell array chip for the cultivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells with controlled aggregate size and geometrical arrangement

We present a novel cell culture chip, namely, “inverting microwell array chip,” for cultivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells. The chip comprises a lower hydrogel microwell array and an upper polystyrene culture surface. We demonstrate the formation of uniform cellular aggregates in the microwell array, and after inversion, a culture with controlled aggregate size and geometrical arrangement on the polystyrene surface. Here, we report effects of cell concentrations on a cultivation sequence in the chip.