Microfluidic Devices for High Throughput Screening of Cell-Cell Interactions
AssigneeShennon Biotechnologies Inc.
InventorsYih Yang Chen, Kaveh Milaninia, Li Sun
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Abstract
Disclosed are methods and microfluidic devices for successfully co-encapsulating two or more cells in a high-throughput, high efficiency manner. Cells are organized into two or more ordered streams flowing through separate microchannels of the microfluidic device. Cells in ordered streams are sufficiently spaced such that at a junction of the microfluidic device, single droplets are generated that include exactly one cell from the first ordered stream of cells and at least one cell from the second ordered stream of cells. Single droplets including two or more cells are useful for performing assays (e.g., high throughput cell-cell interaction assays).
Claims79
A method for encapsulating two cells in a single droplet, the method comprising:
- flowing a first aqueous phase comprising a first ordered stream of cells in a first microchannel towards a junction;
- flowing a second aqueous phase comprising a second ordered stream of cells in a second microchannel towards the junction;
- flowing an oil phase in a third microchannel towards the junction;
- and
- at the junction, generating the single droplet formed from the first aqueous phase, the second aqueous phase, and the oil phase, the single droplet comprising a cell from the first ordered stream of cells and a cell from the second ordered stream of cells.
A method for encapsulating two or more cells in a plurality of droplets, the method comprising:
- flowing a first aqueous phase comprising a first ordered stream of cells in a first microchannel;
- flowing a second aqueous phase comprising a second ordered stream of cells in a second microchannel;
- flowing an oil phase in a third microchannel;
- and
- flowing together the first aqueous phase, the second aqueous phase, and the oil phase to generate the plurality of droplets, wherein at least 20% of droplets in the plurality of droplets include a single cell from the first ordered stream of cells and at least one cell from the second ordered stream of cells.
70-134. (canceled)
A microfluidic device for encapsulating pairs of cells in droplets, the microfluidic device comprising:
- a first microchannel, a second microchannel, and a third microchannel, wherein the first microchannel, second microchannel and third microchannel are fluidically connected to one another through a junction,
- wherein the first microchannel comprises a curved region comprising a channel width between 10-100 μm, and
- wherein the second microchannel comprises a curved region comprising a channel width between 10-100 μm.
136-157. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.