Microfluidic stochastic confinement enhances analysis of rare cells by isolating cells and creating high density environments for control of diffusible signals (original) (raw)
* Corresponding authors
a Department of Chemistry and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, 929 East 57th Street, Chicago, USA
Abstract
Rare cells can be difficult to analyze because they either occur in low numbers or coexist with a more abundant cell type, yet their detection is crucial for diagnosing disease and maintaining human health. In this tutorial review, we introduce the concept of microfluidic stochastic confinement for use in detection and analysis of rare cells. Stochastic confinement provides two advantages: (1) it separates rare single cells from the bulk mixture and (2) it allows signals to locally accumulate to a higher concentration around a single cell than in the bulk mixture. Microfluidics is an attractive method for implementing stochastic confinement because it provides simple handling of small volumes. We present technologies for microfluidic stochastic confinement that utilize both wells and droplets for the detection and analysis of single cells. We address how these microfluidic technologies have been used to observe new behavior, increase speed of detection, and enhance cultivation of rare cells. We discuss potential applications of microfluidic stochastic confinement to fields such as human diagnostics and environmental testing.
- This article is part of the themed collection:From microfluidic applications to nanofluidic phenomena
You have access to this article
Please wait while we load your content... Something went wrong. Try again?
Article information
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B917851A
Article type
Tutorial Review
Submitted
01 Sep 2009
First published
12 Jan 2010
Download Citation
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2010,39, 974-984
Permissions
Microfluidic stochastic confinement enhances analysis of rare cells by isolating cells and creating high density environments for control of diffusible signals
M. E. Vincent, W. Liu, E. B. Haney and R. F. Ismagilov,Chem. Soc. Rev., 2010, 39, 974DOI: 10.1039/B917851A
To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.
If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.
If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.
Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.