Microfluidic device for the continuous preparation of eukaryotic cells for metabolic analysis

A novel lab-on-a-chip is presented for the high-throughput preparation of mammalian cell samples. The microfluidic chip consists of two temperature zones and five functional modules with a total number of four fluidic inlet and three outlet channels for sample collection. The key modules of the chip are a rapid split-and-recombine micromixer for biological system perturbation, a chaotic advection “stirred” incubation channel for lowered residence time distribution, and a spiral channel for efficient particle separation and media exchange. The passive chip is suitable for dynamic pulse experiments for metabolic analyses in cell compartments.