A Microraft (Isoraft) is an arrays of microwells for

cell sorting Cell sorting is the process through which a particular cell type is separated from others contained in a sample on the basis of its physical or biological properties, such as size, morphological parameters, viability and both extracellular and intra ...

, isolating cells, analyzing

cells Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...

over time, and generating clonal populations. This platform provides

biomedical scientist A biomedical scientist is a scientist trained in biology, particularly in the context of medical laboratory sciences or laboratory medicine. These scientists work to gain knowledge on the main principles of how the human body works and to find new w ...

s with access to diverse

cell culture Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. The term "tissue culture" was coined by American pathologist Montrose Thomas Burrows. This te ...

surfaces with integrated, easy-to-use cell separating capabilities at low cost.

Platform

The microrafts have bases composed of detachable

concave Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon, a polygon which is not convex * Concave set * The concavity In ca ...

elements fabricated by a

dip-coating image:Dip coating.svg, A schematic of the continuous dip coating process. Roll of coarse cloth Cloth Bath Liquid material Rollers Oven Scrapers Excess liquid falls back A coating remains on the fabric cloth. Dip coating is an industrial ...

process using a

polydimethylsiloxane Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), also known as dimethylpolysiloxane or dimethicone, belongs to a group of polymeric organosilicon compounds that are commonly referred to as silicones. PDMS is the most widely used silicon-based organic polymer, as its ...

mold as the template and the array substrate. This manufacturing approach allows the microrafts to possess low

autofluorescence Autofluorescence is the natural emission of light by biological structures such as mitochondria and lysosomes when they have absorbed light, and is used to distinguish the light originating from artificially added fluorescent markers (fluorophores) ...

and can therefore be utilized for fluorescence-based identification of cells. Cells plated on the microarray settle and attach at the center of the wells due to the microrafts’ concavity. Individual microrafts are dislodged using a needle inserted through the compliant

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

substrate. The hard polymer material of the microrafts protect the cells from damage by the needle. Cell analysis and isolation can be carried out using a standard

inverted microscope An inverted microscope is a microscope with its light source and condenser on the top, above the stage pointing down, while the objectives and turret are below the stage pointing up. It was invented in 1850 by J. Lawrence Smith, a faculty membe ...

. Released cells/microrafts can be collected, cultured and clonally expanded.

Utility

Using this system, extremely high single-cell cloning rates of greater than 95% have been achieved. This system is ideal for both adherent and non-adherent cell types.

References

{{reflist Cells Cell culture Biotechnology