Subscribers
Non-subscribers
- Purchase article PDF [£30 + taxes]
- Purchase article PDF member offer [£5 + taxes]
Free access
Paper
Lab Chip, 2008, 8, 1478 - 1485, DOI: 10.1039/b801929k
Cell characterization using a protein-functionalized pore
Andrea Carbonaro, Swomitra K. Mohanty, Haiyan Huang, Lucy A. Godley and Lydia L. Sohn
We demonstrate a highly-sensitive and label-free method for characterizing cells based on cell-surface receptors. The method involves measuring a current pulse generated when an individual cell passes through an artificial pore. When the pore is functionalized with proteins, specific interactions between a cell-surface marker and the functionalized proteins retard the cell, thus leading to an increased pulse duration that indicates the presence of that specific biomarker. For proof-of-principle, we successfully screened murine erythroleukemia cells based on their CD34 surface marker in both a single and mixed population of cells. Further, we developed a unified constrained statistical model for estimating the ratios of cells in a mixed population. Finally, we demonstrated our ability to screen a small number of cells (hundreds or less) with high accuracy and sensitivity. Overall, our pore-based method is broadly applicable and, in the future, could provide a full range of in vitro cell-based assays.

