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Microfluidic dielectrophoretic cell manipulation towards stable cell contact assemblies

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Abstract

Cell contact formation, which is the process by which cells are brought into close proximity is an important biotechnological process in cell and molecular biology. Such manipulation is achieved by various means, among which dielectrophoresis (DEP) is widely used due to its simplicity. Here, we show the advantages in the judicious choice of the DEP microelectrode configuration in terms of limiting undesirable effects of dielectric heating on the cells, which could lead to their inactivation or death, as well as the possibility for cell clustering, which is particularly advantageous over the linear cell chain arrangement typically achieved to date with DEP. This study comprises of experimental work as well as mathematical modeling using COMSOL. In particular, we establish the parameters in a capillary-based microfluidic system giving rise to these optimum cell–cell contact configurations, together with the possibility for facilitating other cell manipulations such as spinning and rotation, thus providing useful protocols for application into microfluidic bioparticle manipulation systems for diagnostics, therapeutics or for furthering research in cellular bioelectricity and intercellular interactions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia (MOHE) for support under Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) FRGS/2/2013/TK03/UKM/01/1 and FRGS/1/2015/TK04/MMU/02/9 and the Ministry of Education of Malaysia (MOE) for support under the Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HiCOE) Grant, AKU-95. Dr. Adam Chrimes acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government through the 2015 Victorian Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program. Professor Leslie Yeo is grateful to the Australian Research Council for a Future Fellowship (FT130100672).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mohd Anuar Md Ali & Burhanuddin Yeop Majlis

  2. Centre for Advanced Materials and Green Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University, 75450, Melaka, Malaysia

    Aminuddin Bin Ahmad Kayani

  3. Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia

    Aminuddin Bin Ahmad Kayani

  4. School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia

    Leslie Y. Yeo & Adam F. Chrimes

  5. Biotechnology and Nanotechnology Research Centre, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Muhammad Zamharir Ahmad

  6. School of Chemistry, Physics, and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

    Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov

  7. CSIRO-QUT Joint Sustainable Processes and Devices Laboratory, P. O. Box 218, Lindfield, NSW, 2070, Australia

    Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov

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  1. Mohd Anuar Md Ali
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Md Ali, M.A., Kayani, A.B.A., Yeo, L.Y. et al. Microfluidic dielectrophoretic cell manipulation towards stable cell contact assemblies. Biomed Microdevices 20, 95 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-018-0341-1

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