Recovery and isolation of individual microfluidic picoliter droplets by triggered deposition.

Weber T, Hengoju S, Samimi A, Roth M, Tovar M, Rosenbaum MA (2022) Recovery and isolation of individual microfluidic picoliter droplets by triggered deposition. Sens Actuators B Chem 369, 132289.

Abstract

Microfluidic emulsion-based droplet systems have a great potential for inexpensive ultrahigh-throughput experimentation. Yet, picking and upscaling single unique picoliter-sized droplets of interest out of million others for deeper analysis is still a fundamental limitation. In order to overcome this missing gap, we present a system in which droplets of interest are collected into a collection chamber (DropLot) in high throughput and then slowly redirected to an agar surface or microtiter plate via a capillary tube passing through an optical sensor before exiting. The signal of each droplet triggers a positioning algorithm that ultimately places the flowing droplet at a defined position on a Petri dish or microtiter plate. Results indicate effective isolation of single droplets giving rise to colonies on agar surface with a recovery rate of over 93%. The possibility to isolate individual droplets provides a critical feature for interfacing droplet microfluidics with standard laboratory analysis and processing.

Leibniz-HKI-Authors

Miriam Agler-Rosenbaum
Sundar Hengoju
Martin Roth
Ashkan Samimi
Miguel Angel Tovar Ballen
Thomas Weber

Identifier

doi: 10.1016/j.snb.2022.132289