Evaluation of mechanical interaction between cell spheroid and culture environment based on mechano-index activated sorting

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H04913
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Intelligent mechanics/Mechanical systems
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Sakuma Shinya 名古屋大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (40724464)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 機械的特性計測 / スフェロイド / ソーティング / MEMS / microTAS

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we demonstrated a mechano-index activated sorting of cell spheroids based on a robot-integrated microfluidic chip. The chip contains a pair of force sensor probes, where force sensing is based on measuring the deformation of beams of the probes. By utilizing the constructed system, we obtained Young’s modulus of spheroids from the data of deformation and force which was measured by the images taken though a CCD camera. We performed the experiment of continuous mechanical indexing of cell spheroid using 26 MSC spheroids, and the results showed that the measurement throughput of 3.14 spheroids per minutes. Finally, we demonstrated the on-chip sorting based on the mechanical index of Young’s modulus using a mixed solution of MSC spheroids and microbeads, and succeeded in the continuous machine index activated on-chip sorting of MSC: 5/5 and beads: 5/5.

Free Research Field

マイクロ・ナノメカトロニクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

オンチップソーティング技術は，細胞集団の中から特定の指標に基づきある細胞集団を分取する技術であり，単一の細胞・スフェロイド・オルガノイド解析において重要な技術として広く用いられている．現在は，蛍光活性型細胞ソーティング(FACS)に代表されるように，分取指標として蛍光指標が主流であるが，さらなる詳細な単一細胞の解析，および，従来では見つけることができなかったユニークな細胞の発見・分取のためには，新たな計測モダリティが必要であると考えられる．本研究で構築した機械指標活性型ソーティングは，従来のソーティングモダリティに機械指標という新たなモダリティを付与すると考えられる．