Grand Séminaire d'Institut

Lundi 5 Juin 2023 à 14h00.

Micro and Nano Technologies for Cellular Engineering

''
The ability to control fluidic, electrical, and mechanical fields using micro and nanotechnologies is enabling key advances in cellular engineering and material discovery. In this presentation, I will address the role of microfluidic platforms in genome engineering and temporal cell analysis. In cellular engineering, a critical step is the intracellular delivery of gene editing machinery and subsequent nondestructive, temporal analysis of cells. Both can be achieved by cell membrane permeabilization, as part of workflows employed in the investigation of molecular mechanisms of disease, pharmacological screening, and development of new therapeutics. Specifically, I will discuss several microfluidic platforms created in my lab, ranging from a fully automated nanofountain probe electroporation (NFP-E) system, which provides single-cell manipulation with superior cell viability and efficiency, a 24-well localized cell electroporation device (LEPD), and a live cell analysis device (LCAD) for nondestructive and temporal cellular analysis. A critical aspect of the technology is the possibility of perturbing cell state and performing downstream image and molecular analysis. I will present single cell RNA sequencing data analysis to show that microfluidic technology, with localized application of electric fields, leads to significantly reduced cell stress response and much higher control of molecular payload when compared to standard delivery methods. Case studies of gene editing and cell perturbation with siRNAs followed by machine learning image analysis will be discussed.

''