The isolation of single cells is essential for the development of single cell analysis methods, such as single-cell sequencing, monoclonal antibodies, and drug development. Traditional single-cell isolation techniques include flow cytometry (FACS), laser capture microdissection (LCM), micromanipulation, etc., but their operations are complex and have low throughput. Here, we present a microfluidic chip that can isolate individual cells from cell suspension and release them onto a well plate. It uses thermal bubble micropump technology to drive the fluid flow, and single-cell isolation is achieved by matching the flow resistance of the flow channel. Therefore, injection pumps and peristaltic pumps are not required for cell loading. Because of its small size, we can integrate hundreds of single-cell functional modules, which makes high-throughput single-cell isolation possible. For polystyrene beads, the capture rate of the single bead is close to 100%. Finally, the method has been applied to cells, and the capture rate of the single cell is also about 75%. This is a promising method for single-cell isolation.
Keywords: microfluidic chip; single-cell isolation; thermal bubble micropump.