Conventional cell deposition and sorting methods require large amounts of cells to start with, often delivering collective averages that may overlook cell-to-cell variations. FluidFM favors a bottom-up approach, where cells can be individually selected.
Other techniques, ranging from FACS, vacuum trapping and LCM (Laser Capture Microdissection), imply disruption of the cell culture environment and often result in excessive cell stress, that in some cases may interfere with downstream biochemical analysis and lead to the loss of too many precious cells.
Discover how to select a specific cell -adherent or suspended- and reposition it, without compromising on cell viability and generating unnecessary cellular stress. Directly within a cell-friendly culture environment.
Our solution equally applies to a multitude of micro-objects and -organisms: from colloids to diatoms, from yeasts to bacteria.
Targeted single-cell relocation
Point and click to select, pick and release single cells of your choice
Cell friendly
No unnecessary cell stress: directly from the culture plate. No extra labelling nor toxic compounds, high viability (> 95%).
Fast & easy
Process up to 50 cells/hour with intuitive software
Wide range of cells, micro-organisms and
-objects
Pick and place suspended or adherent cells, diatoms, yeasts and even bacteria
GO BEYOND
Select one single cell easily per mouse click on the screen and release your cells in the exact place you want: a new well, dish or a specific surface.
FluidFM cell isolation at a glance: Exact cell selection per mouse click, trypsinization and picking & placement to a new well.
The localized delivery of trypsin only detaches the targeted cell(s), without damaging neighboring cells.
Compatible with almost any cell type such as iPSC, mouse or human ESC or primary hepatocytes.
Cells are selected by optical features (morphology or fluorescence) of your choice. Also, with the gentle (atomic) force-control of the FluidFM technology, minimal forces are applied to a cell during picking and placing, ensuring minimal stress and leading to cell viability of over 95%.
Established colonies of CHO cells shown in a 12-well plate 48 hours after isolation.
The bottom-up approach is ideal to find and sort rare cells for further downstream analysis. Identify them by their phenotype or fluorescent signal, sort them into other wells (individually or in pools), in preparation of further downstream analysis.
Follow the growth of the newly placed cells with the long-term observation workflow of our ARYA software.
HOW IT WORKS.
With a single click, select the cell to be relocated. Apply a gentle negative pressure through the microfluidic channel of a FluidFM probe to pick up the cell. After moving to the new position, the cell is released with a short positive pressure pulse.
The sensitive force feedback system assures a gentle and soft contact between the cell and the probe. For adhered cell cultures, trypsin can be dispensed locally through the aperture at the tip of the cantilever, enabling a controlled detachment of the selected cell.
The specific probe used for the cell isolation workflow is our FluidFM micropipette with an aperture between 2 and 8 µm. A special anti-fouling coating prevents the cell and dirt to bind on the probe surface, ensuring a smooth immobilization and release of the cell. The probe can also be filled with highly concentrated trypsin, so that – when needed – the enzyme can be released on top of the selected cell enabling its detachment from the substrate.
For more information on the FluidFM technology, please see here.
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