Tatsuya Munaka

Integrated micro chamber for living cell analysis with negligible dead volume sample injector

We develop the micro chamber for real-time monitoring of living cell. It is integrated with an extremely low dead volume sample injector. The chamber was fabricated by the combination of isotropic etching and deep trench etching using CCP-RIE and ICP-RIE. The reproducible sample injection of the order of 1 nL is performed. Biological cell culture of HeLa is also demonstrated in a prototype device.

Monitoring Cellular Events in Living Mast Cells Stimulated with an Extremely Small Amount of Fluid on a Microchip

We successfully developed a measurement system for real-time analysis of cellular function using a newly designed microchip. This microchip was equipped with a micro cell incubation chamber (240 nl) and was stimulated by a very small amount of stimuli (as small as 24 nl). Using the microchip system, cultivation of mast cells was successfully carried out. Monitoring of the cellular events after stimulation with an extremely small amount of fluid on a microchip was performed. This system could be applicable for various types of cellular analysis including real-time monitoring of cellular response by stimulation.