Active Particle Based Selective Transport and Release of Cell Organelles and Deformation of a Single Nucleus

Isolation of cell organelles is important as it enables their direct investigation as means for cell analysis. Current organelle separation methods include density-gradient centrifugation...().., immunoisolation and electromigration analysis. We applied a mobile floating microelectrode to trap and transport cell organelles (nucleus, mitochondria and lysosome) in a selective and releasable manner. This selectivity is driven by the different dielectrophoretic (DEP) potential wells on the JP surface that are controlled by the frequency of the electric field, along with the hydrodynamic shearing and size of the trapped organelles. Hence, the active carrier constitutes an important and novel ex vivo platform for manipulation and mechanical probing of subcellular components of potential for single cell analysis.