Nano-knives and mechanical cell lysis

We are developing reagentless means to conduct sample preparation for lab-on-chip devices. By modifiying a deep reactive ion etching process to create enhanced "scallops" one can create sharp tips with can be used to mechanically disrupt cells flowing in microchannels. Nanostructured barbs (nano-knives) are created within the lysis filter by using a modified deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process. Lysis filters with nanostructured barbs perform better at extracting protein from cells for analysis. This has been shown to enhance availability of proteins of cell lysate by a factor of 2 at 300 uL/min.

A sample preparation chip is shown, which is fabricated using silicon bulk micromachining technology. Inset is a picture of fluorescently stained cells being mechanically lysed in the device.

References:

D. Di Carlo , K. Jeong and L. P. Lee, "Reagentless Mechanical Cell Lysis by Nanoscale Barbs in Microchannels for Sample Preparation," Lab on a Chip, Vol. 3, 287-291 (2003).