AUTHOR=Lipp Clémentine , Koebel Laure , Bertsch Arnaud , Gauthier Michaël , Bolopion Aude , Renaud Philippe TITLE=Dielectrophoretic Traps for Efficient Bead and Cell Trapping and Formation of Aggregates of Controlled Size and Composition JOURNAL=Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology VOLUME=10 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioengineering-and-biotechnology/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.910578 DOI=10.3389/fbioe.2022.910578 ISSN=2296-4185 ABSTRACT=

We present a microfluidic dielectrophoretic-actuated system designed to trap chosen single-cell and form controlled cell aggregates. A novel method is proposed to characterize the efficiency of the dielectrophoretic trapping, considering the flow speed but also the heat generated by the traps as limiting criteria in cell-safe manipulation. Two original designs with different manufacturing processes are experimentally compared. The most efficient design is selected and the cell membrane integrity is monitored by fluorescence imaging to guarantee a safe-cell trapping. Design rules are suggested to adapt the traps to multiple-cells trapping and are experimentally validated as we formed aggregates of controlled size and composition with two different types of cells. We provide hereby a simple manufactured tool allowing the controlled manipulation of particles for the composition of multicellular assemblies.