Microfluidic Electroporation
Microfluidic Electroporation - Related Videos
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Studies of Bacterial Chemotaxis Using Microfluidics - Interview
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Electroporation of Mycobacteria
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Mycobacterial pathogenic strategies remain poorly understood. The slow growth rate of most species, the impenetrable nature of the cell-wall, and the hazards of working with pathogens make mycobacteria difficult to study and are largely responsible for our poor understanding of these organisms. In this video we will demonstrate the technique of electroporation, which involves subjecting cells to a brief high electrical impulse to allow the entry of DNA. It is the most widely used method for...
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Murine In Utero Electroporation
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2023
In utero electroporation is an important technique for studying the molecular mechanisms that guide the proliferation, differentiation, migration, and maturation of cells during neural development. Electroporation enables the rapid and targeted delivery of material into cells by utilizing electrical pulses to create transient pores in cell membranes. Although electroporation has traditionally been used in in vitro studies, scientific advancements have now broadened its utilization to intact...
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Microscale Vortex-assisted Electroporator for Sequential Molecular Delivery
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A microfluidic vortex assisted electroporation platform was developed for sequential delivery of multiple molecules into identical cell populations with precise and independent dosage control. The system’s size based target cell purification step preceding electroporation aided to enhance molecular delivery efficiency and processed cell viability.
12:19
Bacterial Transformation: Electroporation
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2023
The term “transformation” refers cellular ingestion of foreign DNA. In nature, transformation can occur in certain types of bacteria. In molecular biology, however, transformation is artificially induced through the creation of pores in the bacterial cell walls. Bacterial cells that are able to take up DNA from the environment are called competent cells. Electrocompetent cells can be produced in the laboratory and transformation of these cells can be achieve via the application of an...
FAQs
Electric-field strength and pulse duration determine how strongly and how long the cell membrane is disrupted. Increasing exposure can promote cargo entry, but excessive electrical stress may increase cellular damage. Microfluidic control allows these parameters to be adjusted together with flow and cell exposure, helping researchers balance delivery efficiency against preservation of cell viability.
Flow conditions regulate how cells encounter the electrical field inside the microscale device, while exposure determines the duration of that interaction. Controlling both variables can make treatment more consistent across cells and reduce unnecessary stress. This precision is particularly useful when researchers need efficient molecular delivery from limited cell or cargo samples.
The membrane temporarily becomes permeable, allowing nucleic acids, proteins, or other cargos to enter the cell. After the electrical exposure ends, membrane integrity is restored. This temporary opening is central to the method because it supports intracellular delivery without requiring permanent membrane disruption, helping maintain the engineered cells for subsequent research or development.
A general workflow brings living cells and the selected cargo into a microscale fluidic device, controls their movement and exposure, and applies brief electrical pulses. Researchers then allow the cells to recover as membrane integrity returns. Adjusting flow, field strength, pulse duration, and exposure provides a way to optimize delivery for the specific cell-engineering objective.
The approach can deliver nucleic acids, proteins, and other cargos into living cells. In bioengineering, these capabilities support gene editing, cell reprogramming, therapeutic development, and production of engineered cell populations. The appropriate cargo depends on the intended cellular change, while the microscale format provides controlled handling during the delivery process.
By coordinating microscale flow with electrical treatment, the method can improve control over cell exposure while reducing sample use and cellular damage. These features are valuable when generating engineered populations for research or regenerative medicine. Delivery efficiency and the condition of the resulting cells remain important outcomes because both influence the usefulness of downstream applications.