High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy of Cells Using Dielectrophoresis |
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| Authors: | Shi-Yang Tang Wei Zhang Rebecca Soffe Sofia Nahavandi Ravi Shukla Khashayar Khoshmanesh |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia.; 2. Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.; 3. School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Victoria, Australia.; Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada, |
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| Abstract: | Ultrastructural analysis of cells can reveal valuable information about their morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been widely used to provide high-resolution images from the surface of biological samples. However, samples need to be dehydrated and coated with conductive materials for SEM imaging. Besides, immobilizing non-adherent cells during processing and analysis is challenging and requires complex fixation protocols. In this work, we developed a novel dielectrophoresis based microfluidic platform for interfacing non-adherent cells with high-resolution SEM at low vacuum mode. The system enables rapid immobilization and dehydration of samples without deposition of chemical residues over the cell surface. Moreover, it enables the on-chip chemical stimulation and fixation of immobilized cells with minimum dislodgement. These advantages were demonstrated for comparing the morphological changes of non-budding and budding yeast cells following Lyticase treatment. |
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