Micro-Magnetic Structures for Biological Applications
Abstract
Developments in single-molecule and single-cell experiments over the past century have provided researchers with many tools to probe cellular response to stresses such as physical force or to the injection of foreign genes. Often these techniques target the cell membrane, although many are now advancing to probe within the cell. As these techniques are improved upon and investigations advance toward clinical studies, it has become more critical to achieve high-throughput outcomes which in turn lead to statistically significant results. The technologies developed in this thesis are targeted at transfecting large populations of cells with controlled doses of specific exogenic material without adversely affecting cell viability. Underlying this effort is a platform of lithographically patterned ferromagnetic thin films capable of remotely manipulating and localizing magnetic microbeads attached to biological entities. A novel feature of this approach, as demonstrated here with both DNA and cells, is the opportunity for multiplexed operations on targeted biological specimens. This thesis includes two main thrusts: (1) the advancement of the trapping platforms through experimental verification of mathematical models providing the energy landscapes associated with the traps and (2) implementation of the platform as a basis for rapid and effective high-throughput microchannel and nanochannel cell electroporation devices. The electroporation devices have, in our studies, not only demonstrated to sustain cell viability with extremely low cell mortality rates, but are also found to be effective for various types of cells. The advances over current electroporation technologies that are achieved in these efforts demonstrate the potential for detection of mRNA expression in heterogeneous cell populations and probing intracellular responses to the introduction of foreign gene into cells.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 22, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1092897
Entities
People
- Marci Howdyshell
Organizations
- Ohio State University