Miniaturized device for a cell lysis process

Single-cell studies are crucial for gaining knowledge on complexity of intracellular processes. In many cases, carrying researches into cell ingredients must be proceeded by a lysis process. Cell lysis leads to disintegration of the plasma membrane which is the barrier separating cell contents from the environment. However, investigations at the cellular level would not be possible without proper miniaturized tools, which offer many advantages as low reagents consumption, short reaction time, integration, automation or versatility. The goal of this work was to design and develop a microfluidic chip for a chemical cell lysis process. The geometry of a microsystem presented is based on the hydrodynamic focusing of a cell suspension stream. Applying non-denaturing cell lysis buffer enables to analyze released cell ingredients during next steps of investigations.