Microfluidic Platforms for Single Cell Analysis: Applications in Cellular Manipulation and Optical Biosensing

Chemosensors, vol. 11, pp. 107

Abstract

Cellular heterogeneity of any tissue or organ makes it challenging to identify and study the impact and the treatment of any disease. In this context, analysis of cells at an individual level becomes highly relevant for throwing light on the heterogeneous nature of cells. Single cell analysis can be used to gain insights into an overall view of any disease, thereby holding great applications in health diagnosis, disease identification, drug screening, and targeted delivery. Various conventional methods, such as flow cytometry, are used to isolate and study single cells. Still, these methods are narrower in scope due to certain limitations, including the associated processing/run times, the economy of reagents, and sample preparation. Microfluidics, an emerging technology, overcomes such limitations and is now being widely applied to develop tools for the isolation, analysis, and parallel manipulation of single cells. This review systematically compiles various microfluidic tools and techniques involved in single cell investigation. The review begins by highlighting the applications of microfluidics in single cell sorting and manipulation, followed by emphasizing microfluidic platforms for single cell analysis, with a specific focus on optical sensing-based detection in a high-throughput fashion, and ends with applications in cancer cell studies.

Authors 7

1. Shrishti Kumari

   Indian Institute of Technology Madras

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India

2. Udiptya Saha

   Indian Institute of Technology Madras

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India

3. Mayilvahanan Bose

   Cancer Institute (WIA)

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai 600020, India

4. Divagar Murugan Aachen Institute of Materials in Electrical Engineering 1

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Materials in Electrical Engineering 1, RWTH Aachen University, Sommerfeldstrasse 24, D-52074 Aachen, Germany

5. Vivek Pachauri Aachen Institute of Materials in Electrical Engineering 1

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Materials in Electrical Engineering 1, RWTH Aachen University, Sommerfeldstrasse 24, D-52074 Aachen, Germany

6. V. V. R. Sai

   Indian Institute of Technology Madras

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India

7. Narayanan Madaboosi corresponding

   Indian Institute of Technology Madras

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India