A Microfluidic Device for Imaging Samples from Microbial Suspension Cultures

Abstract

Traditional methods to assess microbial cells during suspension culture require laborious and frequent manual sampling. Approaches to automate sampling and assessment utilize dedicated, sophisticated equipment and suffer from a lack of temporal resolution and sampling efficiency. In this study we describe a simple microfluidic device that allows microbial cells to be sampled from suspension culture and rapidly slowed and concentrated for single-cell imaging on a standard laboratory microscope. We demonstrate a device that: • slows and concentrates microbial cells, specifically budding yeast, sampled from suspension culture and improves imaging of individual cells by concentrating them in a single focal plane • provides imaging quality and temporal resolution that is capable of monitoring dynamic spatiotemporal processes, such as nuclear localization of a protein • is inexpensive and simple enough to be fabricated and used in laboratories equipped for standard molecular and cellular biology

Keywords

• Microfluidic
• Single-cell microscopy
• Microbial cell culture
• Bioreactor