Dolomite and Cavendish Laboratory develop innovative device for optical micromanipulation of cells

This new device can be used to trap and deform individual biological cells benefitting a wide range of application areas including cancer diagnosis, stem cell analysis and cell sorting.

Working closely with Dr. Jochen Guck and his team from the Cavendish Laboratory Dolomite developed a multi-layered glass microfluidic chip featuring 3 inlets. Its unique design integrates both fluidic and optical fibre channels allowing the chip to be used as a two beam laser optical trap for cell mechanical measurements. One of the fabrication challenges was to ensure the optical fibres were aligned to micron accuracy so that the two laser beams met in a microchannel allowing the cells to be captured.

After aligning, the fluid-borne cells are exposed to laser beams, which stretch them to
probe their elasticity. Thus, cancerous cells, for example, can be detected as they are
softer than healthy cells. The optical stretcher offers a very cost effective and time
efficient solution which compares favourably to traditional methods used to measure
cell mechanics.