Isolation of single microorganisms using optical micromanipulation technology

Marine microorganisms present an almost untapped resource with huge potential for biotechnological applications. Of the very large genetic diversity of marine microbacteria, only a small number have been identified with 99.9% of the total species still unknown. One of the main reasons for the low rate of identification is the lack of efficient revolutionary methods for isolating the microbacteria and growing them in laboratory conditions. The study of unidentified marine microorganisms could potentially help in contributing to the development of new medicines, control diseases and mitigate climatic changes. I am developing a high throughput automated system to improve the isolation rate and culturability of marine bacteria. Optical micromanipulation techniques (optical tweezers) are widely used for manipulating biological cells at a single cell level and this is one approach I am investigating. Another approach is to use novel Lab on a Chip (LOC) devices that can be used to enable sorting, growth, maintenance and assay of microbial cells. This seminar will discuss the design and fabrication of an LOC device that can be used for the isolation of marine microbial cells. The device is fabricated by the technique of ultrafast laser inscription followed by selective chemical etching. The work carried out towards single cell manipulation using both optical tweezers and optofluidic devices will be presented.