Innovative mOSTE+ designed digital lab-on-a-chip for manipulation and downstream single cell analysis

Individual cells in a population can substantially differ at the genomic and functional level. Getting further insight into these differences might be a key to answering many of the remaining questions linked to different physiological or pathological processes. Although single cell analysis is rapidly evolving field, the methods are often not amenable to spatio-temporal studies in individual cells in situ and are accompanied by cumbersome procedures for manipulation of single cells. With joint forces of two dynamic KU Leuven groups, this project aims at combining innovative materials and methods for flexible manufacturing of the digital microfluidics (DMF) chip components together with innovative solutions for on-chip manipulation of individual cells. This results in a DMF platform that empowers easy handling, identification, isolation and downstream analysis of single cells in a high-throughput fashion. One particular non-adherent cellular model system, namely yeast cell cultures, will be used with the aim to directly test the developed technological solutions in elucidating, on a single cell level, downstream signaling cascade triggered upon their treatment with different antifungals. Therefore, this project will have large impact not only in bringing forward the practices in DMF manufacturing and in the field of single cell manipulation/analysis but also in further understanding the mode of action of antifungals and triggered responses in yeast cells.