Microfluidic Device for Single-cell Encapsulation by Random Breakup and Sorting of Micro-droplets

INTRODUCTION Single-cell isolation is important for biochemical screening platform in which each cell can be genetically varied and observation of individual reaction level is necessary. Microfluidic droplet-based technology enables the isolation of cells in individual aqueous chamber, but single-cell encapsulation efficiency is usually as low as 22% [1]. Several reports have been presented to enhance the efficiency of single-cell encapsulation into droplets by hydrodynamic self-organizing or close-packed ordering of cells [1,2]. However, these methods are only applicable to relatively large mammalian cells in certain flow rate conditions. In this work, we use a micro-groove design for breakup of droplets, which creates size differences between single-cell containing droplets and the ones with multiple cells or no cell, and overcomes the problem of stochastic distribution of cells in the inlet.