Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 17: Poster V

BP 17.17: Poster

Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 14:00–16:00, P2/1OG

Mechanical phenotyping beyond geometrical constraints using virtual channels — •Muzaffar H. Panhwar, Venkata A.S. Dabbirru, Yesaswini Komaragiri, Ricardo H. Pires, and Oliver Otto — ZIK HIKE, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Microfluidic techniques have proven to be of key importance for achieving high-throughput cell mechanical measurements. However, their design modifications require sophisticated cleanroom equipment. Here, we introduce virtual fluidic channels as a flexible and robust alternative to Poly-dimethylsiloxane chips. Virtual channels are liquid-bound fluidic systems that can be created in almost arbitrary fluidic systems, e.g. standard flow cytometer cuvettes, and tailored in three dimensions within seconds for rheological studies on a wide size range of biological samples. We show that cell deformation in narrow virtual channels inside micrometer-sized systems is mainly driven by shear stress. By contrast, cells inside virtual channels of a large cuvette or capillary are deformed by an interfacial normal stress originating from the liquid-liquid interface. We demonstrate that this liquid-liquid interface acts as a high-frequency liquid cantilever for probing cell rheology on a millisecond timescale. As a proof-of-principle, cells are treated with the actin depolymerizing drug cytochalasin D. A significant reduction in elastic modulus is found compared to untreated cells. In summary, we show that virtual channels might offer the ability for high-throughput mechanical cell characterization in almost arbitrary geometries.