Automatic Cell Cutting by High-Precision Microfluidic Control

We have developed automated cell cutting by highprecision microfluidic control using a high-response and high-precision syringe pump. A microfluidic chip containing 2 orthogonal microchannels was used for cutting animal cells softened by cytochalasin and aspirated and fixed in 1 microchannel, then a high-velocity microchannel flow was generated from another channel to cut the cell. To control microchannel flow precisely, we made a syringe pump with a minimum flow of 0.35 × 10 -3 µl/min and response time of 10 ms. The syringe pump was connected to the microfluidic chip by a thin, hard Teflon tube to reduce the pressure transmission delay between the syringe pump and microfluidic channel. A microbead control experiment depending on PI control using the syringe pump was conducted to check the microchannel flow delay. Bovine oocytes softened by cytochalasin were injected into the microfluidic chip and bisected by microscopic image volume measurement. This paper reports the automatic cell cutting strategy and system, a result of microbead positioning control, and a result of automatic cell cutting.