Single-Cell Microarray with Microwells to Prevent Cell from Dropping Out

Abstract

We propose a well structure to prevent cell from dropping out due to flow during liquid exchange for analyzing single cells on microarrays. As a result of FEM analysis of the flow field inside the proposed structure, it was found that the flow in the well transitions downward and is expected to hold the cells to the bottom of the well. Furthermore, microarrays were fabricated by 3D lithography technique and PDMS molding, and cell trapping was evaluated by experiments using actual cells. The experimental results showed that the proposed structure increased the number of cell trapping and decreased the cell dropping out to improve the efficiency of cell analysis.