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Microfluidic Methods for Molecular Biology pp 19–54Cite as

Microfluidic Methods in Single Cell Biology

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Abstract

Stochastic variations within seemingly homogeneous cell populations determine the emergent properties of complex cellular systems such as biofilms, tumors, pluripotent stem cells, and multispecies ecosystems. The advent of microfluidic technologies, coupled with rapid advances in fluorescence-based molecular imaging and genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic profiling techniques, has spurred a revolution in biological analysis at the level of single cells. Over the past decade, several microfluidic platforms have been developed that enable the isolation, enrichment, and biochemical or genetic analysis of individual cells with high spatiotemporal resolution in a fashion that is not achievable using macroscale methods. In sharp contrast to population-averaged measurements based on bulk-level techniques, microfluidic cell culture platforms permit the acquisition of multiparametric and high-content information while preserving the identity and monitoring the behavior of individual cells over time. In this way, microfluidics has ushered in new frontiers in single cell biology with a direct impact on applied and foundational studies in microbial ecology, systems biology, therapeutics development, and clinical diagnostics. In this chapter, we describe the transformative impact of microfluidics in single cell biology with particular emphasis on the following areas: (1) microfluidic bioreactors for cellular analysis in dynamically changing microenvironments, (2) microfluidic chips for in vitro drug screening, and (3) single cell confinement and isolation microchips for sorting and profiling rare or unculturable cells in complex environmental consortia.

Keywords

  • Biological noise
  • Stochasticity
  • Laminar flow
  • Antibiotic resistance
  • Single cell genome amplification
  • Circulating tumor cells
  • Unculturable microbes
  • Time-lapse fluorescent microscopy

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., 123 Spalding, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    Arnab Mukherjee Ph.D.

  2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Institute for Genomic Biology/Biosystems Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Charles M. Schroeder Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Arnab Mukherjee Ph.D.
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  2. Charles M. Schroeder Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles M. Schroeder Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Chang Lu

  2. Dpt of Biomedical Engg. & Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Scott S. Verbridge

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Mukherjee, A., Schroeder, C.M. (2016). Microfluidic Methods in Single Cell Biology. In: Lu, C., Verbridge, S. (eds) Microfluidic Methods for Molecular Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30019-1_2

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