A High-Throughput Microfluidic Platform for Mammalian Cell Transfection and Culturing

Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 31:6:23937. doi: 10.1038/srep23937.

Abstract

Mammalian synthetic biology could be augmented through the development of high-throughput microfluidic systems that integrate cellular transfection, culturing, and imaging. We created a microfluidic chip that cultures cells and implements 280 independent transfections at up to 99% efficiency. The chip can perform co-transfections, in which the number of cells expressing each protein and the average protein expression level can be precisely tuned as a function of input DNA concentration and synthetic gene circuits can be optimized on chip. We co-transfected four plasmids to test a histidine kinase signaling pathway and mapped the dose dependence of this network on the level of one of its constituents. The chip is readily integrated with high-content imaging, enabling the evaluation of cellular behavior and protein expression dynamics over time. These features make the transfection chip applicable to high-throughput mammalian protein and synthetic biology studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Culture Techniques / instrumentation
  • Cell Culture Techniques / methods*
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Histidine Kinase / genetics
  • Histidine Kinase / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Lab-On-A-Chip Devices*
  • Microfluidics / instrumentation
  • Microfluidics / methods*
  • Optical Imaging / instrumentation
  • Optical Imaging / methods*
  • Plasmids / chemistry
  • Plasmids / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Transfection

Substances

  • Histidine Kinase