Optofluidic chip for manipulation of single cells.

Optical micromanipulation techniques and microfluidics techniques can be used in same platform for manipulating biological samples at single cell level. This seminar will discuss the design and fabrication of an optofluidic chip fabricated using femtosecond laser micromachining combined with selective chemical etching. The unique three dimensional capability of femtosecond laser micromachining is utilised to integrate, 3-dimensional microfluidic structures and waveguides within the fused silica substrate. The microfluidic channel networks within the substrate are capable of implementing hydrodynamic focusing. The optical function within our device is an optical force, from the output of the waveguide, exerted on a particle in the focused stream within the microfluidic channel. We use the device to focus microbes in a hydrodynamic flow and then use optical scattering forces to deflect single cells from the flow for downstream analysis and culture of the isolated cells. The experimental results achieved so far towards the development of a high throughput optofluidic device for isolation of single cells will be discussed in this talk.