Design a Droplets-based Platform with Cells and Drugs Encapsulated in Uniform-Sized Droplets

In this study, we present a simple method to encapsulate beads or cells in the droplets on the microfluidic chip, and used in cells encapsulated and drug gradient detection. There are two ways to generate the droplets. First one is the use of hydrophilic modification treatment, the partial region is treated to hydrophilic surface, so that the droplets generate in these regions. Second one is using the deformed film, the droplets are saved in these concave area. The droplets are formed directly without cross contamination of the carrier buffer. Therefore, the superfluous sample is recycled, which significantly reduces the sample consumption. Moreover, Beads and cells are encapsulated in a generated droplet and fixed in a defined area ready for assay and observation. Due to the advantages, this chip is promising to realize facile and reliable platform for biological and chemical applications.
The operating principle of the upper chip is as follow: A medium (drug) is injected into the chip; after withdrawal of the medium, the droplets are formed in the hydrophilic area. Superfluous sample can be recycled without cross contamination. The operating principle of the lower chip is as follow: A buffer medium containing the beads or cells is injected into the chip; after withdrawal of the buffer medium, the droplets encapsulating beads or cells are formed in the concave area.After both the chip succefully generate the droplets, remove the channel, align and stack them together, then give positive pressure to the chamber for detection. This study has successfully encapsulated HeLa Cells and Cardiac muscle cells in the lower chip. I hope that this chip can be detected with other biomedical integration, processing and analysis conducted multifunctional, such as drug screening, cell culture, etc., can provide the next generation a convenient detection system.