Dresden 2014 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 31: Cell adhesion, mechanics and migration II
BP 31.5: Talk
Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 18:15–18:30, ZEU 250
Real-time and high-throughput mechanical phenotyping of suspended cells — •Oliver Otto1, Philipp Rosendahl1, Stefan Golfier1, Alexander Mietke1, Salvatore Girardo1, Stefano Pagliara2, Ulrich Felix Keyser2, and Jochen Guck1,2 — 1Biotechnology Center, TU Dresden, Tatzberg 47/49, 01307 Dresden, Germany — 2Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
The mechanical properties of cells have been emerging as label-free, inherent marker of biological function and disease. Concerted utilization has so far been hampered by the availability of a convenient and robust measurement technique. We report the development and characterization of a microfluidic system for mechanical single cell classification in real-time with analysis rates of several hundred cells per second.
A cell suspension is driven through the constriction zone of a microfluidic chip resulting in cell deformation due to hydrodynamic interactions only. Our custom-built image processing software is capable of performing image acquisition, image analysis and data storage on the fly allowing for mechanical phenotyping of several hundred cells per second in real-time.
The ensuing deformations can be described by an analytical hydrodynamic model. Initial experiments based on our novel technology with different cell types are in agreement with results obtained with atomic force microscopy and optical stretcher. Our method allows continuous mechanical phenotyping of large cell populations with a throughput previously only known from flow cytometry.