Recent progress in high-throughput droplet screening and sorting for bioanalysis

Guoyun Sun; Lisha Qu; Fidelis Azi; Yanfeng Liu; Jianghua Li; Xueqin Lv; Guocheng Du; Jian Chen; Chia-Hung Chen; Long Liu

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2023.115107

Recent progress in high-throughput droplet screening and sorting for bioanalysis

Biosens Bioelectron. 2023 Apr 1:225:115107. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115107. Epub 2023 Jan 30.

Authors

Guoyun Sun¹, Lisha Qu², Fidelis Azi³, Yanfeng Liu¹, Jianghua Li², Xueqin Lv¹, Guocheng Du¹, Jian Chen¹, Chia-Hung Chen⁴, Long Liu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China; Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.
² Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology GTIIT, Shantou, Guangdong, 515063, China.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: chiachen@cityu.edu.hk.
⁵ Science Center for Future Foods, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China; Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China. Electronic address: longliu@jiangnan.edu.cn.

PMID: 36731396
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115107

Abstract

Owing to its ability to isolate single cells and perform high-throughput sorting, droplet sorting has been widely applied in several research fields. Compared with flow cytometry, droplet allows the encapsulation of single cells for cell secretion or lysate analysis. With the rapid development of this technology in the past decade, various droplet sorting devices with high throughput and accuracy have been developed. A droplet sorter with the highest sorting throughput of 30,000 droplets per second was developed in 2015. Since then, increased attention has been paid to expanding the possibilities of droplet sorting technology and strengthening its advantages over flow cytometry. This review aimed to summarize the recent progress in droplet sorting technology from the perspectives of device design, detection signal, actuating force, and applications. Technical details for improving droplet sorting through various approaches are introduced and discussed. Finally, we discuss the current limitations of droplet sorting for single-cell studies along with the existing gap between the laboratory and industry and provide our insights for future development of droplet sorters.

Keywords: Droplet actuating; Droplet detecting; Droplet sorting; Microfluidic device design; Synthetic biology.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques*
Flow Cytometry
High-Throughput Screening Assays
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques*