SOI SUBSTRATE-BASED MICROFLUIDIC CHIP FOR CELL ELECTROFUSION

A microelectrode array-based cell electrofusion chip was fabricated by using the MEMS technique. Because of the short distance between two counter microelectrodes, the working voltage on this chip was only 1/100–1/20 as that in the traditional cell electrofusion method. Simulation method was used to analyze the on-chip electric field distribution and optimize the structure of the microelectrodes. The results showed the length and width of the microelectrode, and the distance between two microelectrodes in the horizontal and vertical direction would impact the strength and distribution of the electric field. Thus, optimized chip architecture was obtained, on which six individual chambers were integrated. At least 1680 microelectrodes were patterned within any one chamber. Alternating current signals have been used to manipulate and align cells, and most cells were aligned as cell–cell twins. High-intensity (~103 V/cm) electric pulses were used to fuse the aligned cell–cell twins. The fusion efficiency was about 40%, which was much higher than that in traditional chemical method (less than 1‰) and electrofusion methods (less than 5%).