Abstract
On-chip cell culture devices have been actively developed for both mammalian cells and bacteria. Most designs are based on PDMS multi-layer microfluidic valves, which require complicated fabrication and operation. In this work, single-layer PDMS microfluidic valves are introduced in the design of an on-chip culture chamber for E. coli bacteria. To enable the constant flow of culturing medium, we have developed a (semi-)always-closed single-layer microfluidic valve. As a result, the growth chamber can culture bacteria over long duration. The device is applied for the whole-cell detection of heavy metal ions with genetically modified E. coli. The platform is tested with culturing period of 3 h. It is found to achieve a limit-of-detection (LoD) of 44.8 ppb for Cadmium ions.
Highlights
Microfluidic on-chip cell culture has been actively investigated in the past two decades
We introduce our design of a PDMS chamber for culturing bacteria using a single-layer valve
This paper introduces the design of a single-layer bacterial culturing chamber for whole-cell detection of heavy-metal ions
Summary
Microfluidic on-chip cell culture has been actively investigated in the past two decades. Hung et al presented the first cell culture microfluidic device aimed at providing a high throughput for cell-based experiments [3]. With the introduction of a chemical gradient generator, Hung et al were able to create an array of different conditions in which HeLa cells were tested [3]. This device, alongside the work by Leclerc et al, enabled a better gas interchange due to the inherent high gas permeability of the PDMS material they used in their devices. This helped overcome the poor oxygen distribution to the cells of previous cell-culture work. [3,4,5]
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