A new technology for precise analysis of single cell properties

The ability to analyze the properties of individual cells is critical to a wide range of applications in life sciences, such as diagnosing diseases and developing better treatments to characterize pathogenic bacteria
.
However, precise analysis of individual cells is a challenge, especially when it comes to the biophysical properties of cells, as properties vary greatly between cells even within the same cell population, and the presence of rare cell types in larger cell populations
.

To meet this need, Dr.
Arum Han, a Texas Instruments professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, along with his graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, has developed a new technique that can precisely analyze the properties of cells by using a single-cell electrorotating microfluidic device that uses electric fields to probe the properties of
cells.

The technique works by first capturing single cells in a microfluidic device using an electric field, then applying a rotating electric field to rotate the trapped single cells, and then measuring the rotational velocity
.
By knowing the input electric field parameters and analyzing the rotational speed, it is possible
to accurately analyze the dielectric characteristics of a single cell.

"By understanding how much force is applied and how fast the cell rotates, you can extract many of the basic biophysical properties of the cell.
"

Previous efforts have been made to do this, but this technology is the most accurate in measuring these characteristics because it is capable of applying high-frequency electric fields (up to 100 MHz), and it uses an eight-electrode pair design that can simultaneously trap a single cell and apply rotational forces
to the trapped cell.

The team's findings were published on
the cover of the June 2022 issue of the journal Biomedical Microdevices.

This technique has been fully developed and applied to several different cell analysis applications
.
After successfully demonstrating that the analysis can be done accurately on one cell at a time, Yuwen Li, a graduate student in Han's lab and the first author of the work, is now leading the further development of the technique so that multiple cells can be analyzed
simultaneously at higher speeds.

Other contributors to this research include postdoctoral researcher Can Huang and research scientist Songji Han, who come from the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The project is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.
S.
Army Combat Capability Development Command's Army Research Laboratory and promoted
through the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station.