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Micro‐ and Nano‐Devices for Studying Subcellular Biology
Author(s) -
Siedlik Michael J.,
Yang Zijian,
Kadam Parnika S.,
Eberwine James,
Issadore David
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.202005793
Subject(s) - organelle , cytoplasm , nanotechnology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , computational biology , computer science , materials science
Cells are complex machines whose behaviors arise from their internal collection of dynamically interacting organelles, supramolecular complexes, and cytoplasmic chemicals. The current understanding of the nature by which subcellular biology produces cell‐level behaviors is limited by the technological hurdle of measuring the large number (>10 3 ) of small‐sized (<1 μm) heterogeneous organelles and subcellular structures found within each cell. In this review, the emergence of a suite of micro‐ and nano‐technologies for studying intracellular biology on the scale of organelles is described. Devices that use microfluidic and microelectronic components for 1) extracting and isolating subcellular structures from cells and lysate; 2) analyzing the physiology of individual organelles; and 3) recreating subcellular assembly and functions in vitro, are described. The authors envision that the continued development of single organelle technologies and analyses will serve as a foundation for organelle systems biology and will allow new insight into fundamental and clinically relevant biological questions.