Issue 14, 2020

Microfluidic platform for 3D cell culture with live imaging and clone retrieval

Abstract

Combining live imaging with the ability to retrieve individual cells of interest remains a technical challenge. Combining imaging with precise cell retrieval is of particular interest when studying highly dynamic or transient, asynchronous, or heterogeneous cell biological and developmental processes. Here, we present a method to encapsulate live cells in a 3D hydrogel matrix, via hydrogel bead compartmentalisation. Using a small-scale screen, we optimised matrix conditions for the culture and multilineage differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells. Moreover, we designed a custom microfluidic platform that is compatible with live imaging. With this platform we can long-term culture and subsequently extract individual cells-in-beads by media flow only, obviating the need for enzymatic cell removal from the platform. Specific beads may be extracted from the platform in isolation, without disrupting the adjacent beads. We show that we can differentiate mouse embryonic stem cells, monitor reporter expression by live imaging, and retrieve individual beads for functional assays, correlating reporter expression with functional response. Overall, we present a highly flexible 3D cell encapsulation and microfluidic platform that enables both monitoring of cellular dynamics and retrieval for molecular and functional assays.

Graphical abstract: Microfluidic platform for 3D cell culture with live imaging and clone retrieval

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Feb 2020
Accepted
08 Jun 2020
First published
23 Jun 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Lab Chip, 2020,20, 2580-2591

Microfluidic platform for 3D cell culture with live imaging and clone retrieval

C. Mulas, A. C. Hodgson, T. N. Kohler, C. C. Agley, P. Humphreys, H. Kleine-Brüggeney, F. Hollfelder, A. Smith and K. J. Chalut, Lab Chip, 2020, 20, 2580 DOI: 10.1039/D0LC00165A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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