Kenza Samlali, a fourth-year PhD student working with Shih, says that scientists have been using microfluidic technology for a number of years to enable miniaturisation and multiplexing experiments, especially carrying out manipulations at the single cell level.
“Microfluidic technologies, also known as lab-on-a-chip, manipulate fluids on a micro scale,” says Samlali, first author on the new paper. “We used this tool to show that it is possible to automate the process for making an engineered cancer cell.”
Samlali and her colleagues combined two existing technologies to create a ‘hybrid’ device capable of identifying and trapping a genetically engineered cell into microdroplets. An electric field generated by electrodes found on the device surface is then used to move the microdroplets through tunnels to isolate and enrich cells that were properly edited.
“Usually, we need to rely on large, expensive automated equipment to sort them out and find the ones we need,” she adds. “This can take months, damages the cells, and many precious and edited cells get lost. We believe our tool is a useful technology that can prevent such losses and can be integrated with current laboratory automation tools while saving researchers valuable time.”