Lab-on-chip microfluidic system for single cell mass measurement

Abstract

In this paper, we presented a lab-on-chip microfluidic system for single cell mass measurement. Single cell mass has been related with drag force exerted on cell and Newton law of motion. Drag force has been generated using pressure driven syringe micropump. Motions of the cells were measured using optical observation under an inverted microscope. We have calibrated the approach using known mass of polystyrene microbeads with a diameter of 5.2 μm. Our experimental results showed that, mass of single microbead is 88.9 fg, which is very close to the theoretical mass (77.3 fg) of the particle. From which it is believed, our approach is suitable for single particle's mass measurement. We used Saccharomyces cerevisiae baker's yeast cell as a cell sample. Yeast cells have been cultured in our laboratory using YPD medium. For the diameter of 4 μm cell, mass of single cell was measured as 1.9 pg which is very consistent with previously reported single yeast cell mass (1-3 pg).