Arbitrary microstructure fabrication embedding yeast cells patterned by dielectrophoresis

Constructing different patterns of cells and immobilizing these cells inside certain structures are very important issues for artificial tissue engineering. In this paper, we present methods of forming line pattern of yeast cells by dielectrophoresis (DEP) and immobilizing patterned cells by photo-crosslinkable resin. Arbitrary shaped microstructure which contains patterned yeast cells is on-chip fabricated. In order to applying DEP force for forming cell pattern, several novel microelectrodes are fabricated by Indium Tin Oxides (ITO) which are coated on the glass. The two kinds of DEP responses of yeast cell (W303) and the precise experimental parameters of them are confirmed. Based on negative DEP phenomenon, cell traps generated by microelectrode are demonstrated. Besides, the line pattern of yeast cells is formed. The experimental results show that the cell line pattern which contains hundreds of yeast cells is formed by DEP within 1 second. The on-chip fabrication for arbitrary shapes of microstructures based on Poly Ethylene Glycol Diacrylate (PEG-DA) is reported. With the cell patterning by DEP and immobilizing by on-chip fabrication, microstructure which contains 3 lines of yeast cell inside is fabricated in the microfluidic channel, inside PEG-DA and NaCl solution.