Background What We Can Offer? Workflow Why Choose Us? Published Data FAQs Featured Services Feature Products
Accelerate Your Research and Development!
Are you currently facing challenges such as inconsistent data from traditional cell migration assays, a lack of precise environmental control, or difficulties in performing high-throughput screens? Our Microfluidic Chip Development Service helps you overcome these limitations by providing high-quality, customized microfluidic chips that enable precise control over cellular microenvironments, leading to reproducible and physiologically relevant results.
Contact our team to get an inquiry now!
Background
Cell migration is a fundamental biological process vital for embryonic development, immune response, and wound healing. Its precise analysis is crucial for understanding disease progression, such as cancer metastasis, and for developing therapeutic strategies. In living tissues, cell migration is guided by complex extracellular factors like chemical gradients, mechanical stimuli, and the dense three-dimensional scaffolds of the extracellular matrix (ECM), which is composed of various proteoglycans, collagen, and other components.
Fig.1 Three-channel cell migration chip.1,4
Microfluidic chips have emerged as a powerful tool for this purpose, offering unprecedented control. Unlike traditional methods, these devices allow for the creation of stable chemical gradients, controlled shear stress, and complex 3D environments that more closely mimic in vivo conditions. This precision is essential for replicating the mechanical and chemical cues of human tissues. For instance, microfluidic platforms have been used to create more accurate models of cancer cell metastasis than traditional 2D culture dishes, allowing for the study of processes like epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and assessing drug efficacy. A number of in vitro systems have been developed to characterize and study cell motility and migration patterns, replicating the physiology of human tissues.
Table.1 Cell migration microchip designs.2,4
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Design
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Details
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Characteristics
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Schematic
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Straight channels
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Compare migration behavior based on chemical stimuli or channel size and perform chemotaxis assays.
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Straight channels of constant cross-section with variable channel dimensions.
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Microchannels
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Study migration strategies based on local 3D channel geometry, such as tapering, height confinement or cell traps.
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Variable cross-section with different shapes.
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Micropillars
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Using pillar arrays as ECM.
Study of cell migration through subnuclear pore according to environmental geometry.
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Micro pillar arrays.
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Fluidic Maze
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Investigating cellular decision-making and cellular environment detection capabilities during migration.
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Constant cross-section single-channel maze.
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Applications
Our microfluidic chip development services have wide-ranging applications across various fields:
Cancer Research
Studying tumor cell invasion, metastasis, and the effects of anti-cancer drugs on cell motility in a controlled, 3D environment.
Immunology
Analyzing the chemotaxis and migration of immune cells (e.g., T-cells, macrophages) in response to chemical signals.
Drug Screening
High-throughput screening of drug candidates for their effects on cell migration, enabling faster and more efficient lead compound identification.
Regenerative Medicine
Investigating the migration of stem cells and other cell types for tissue engineering and regenerative therapy applications.
Neurobiology
Modeling neuronal migration during development and in disease states.
What We Can Offer
At Creative Biolabs, we offer a comprehensive suite of services to support your research:
We design and fabricate bespoke microfluidic chips from various materials (e.g., PDMS, glass, thermoplastics) using advanced techniques to meet your specific research needs.
From initial consultation and design to final chip production and validation, we provide a complete, integrated service to ensure a seamless and successful project.
We also provide a range of pre-designed microfluidic chips and analysis kits for standard cell migration assays, offering ready-to-use solutions for common research applications.
Leverage our specialized benefits—Request a quotation today
Workflow
Why Choose Us?
Creative Biolabs is a leader in microfluidic technology, providing customized, high-precision solutions that empower researchers. Our unique advantages include a deep understanding of cell biology and microfluidics, a streamlined development process, and a commitment to delivering validated, reliable products.
Our Advantages:
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Precision Control: Our chips enable precise control over chemical gradients, shear stress, and cell-cell interactions, providing a level of experimental control not possible with traditional macro-scale assays like the Boyden chamber or wound healing assays.
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Physiological Relevance: We can replicate complex in vivo microenvironments by incorporating multiple cell types, controlled oxygen gradients, and 3D matrices, leading to more physiologically relevant and translatable data.
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High-Throughput Capabilities: Our designs are optimized for parallelization and automation, significantly increasing throughput for drug screening and large-scale studies.
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Expertise in Fabrication: With extensive experience in a variety of materials and fabrication techniques (e.g., PDMS soft lithography, thermoplastic embossing), we can select and implement the best method for your specific application, ensuring high quality and manufacturability.
Published Data
Fig.2 The microfluidic assay and process of wound-healing in the device.3,4
A recent study investigated a microfluidic chip for a comparative wound-healing assay on microglia BV2 cells. The experimental setup demonstrated the chip's ability to create a cell-free "wound" using both chemical stimuli (trypsin) and mechanical stimuli (PBS flow), enabling a direct comparison of cell migration patterns under different conditions. The research found that cell migration within the chemically induced cell-free area was significantly enhanced compared to migration in a mechanically created wound or a traditional scratch assay. This finding highlights the superior control and more physiologically relevant environment offered by microfluidic devices, which can be critical for accurately studying cell behavior and the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. The study's results validate the precision of microfluidic platforms in controlling cellular environments and provide compelling evidence of their utility in advanced cell biology research.
FAQs
Q: What are the scientific advantages of microfluidic devices over traditional assays for studying cell migration?
A: Microfluidic devices offer enhanced control and reproducibility. They create consistent, defined microenvironments, overcoming the variability of traditional methods like the manual scratch in a wound healing assay. They also enable the formation of stable, long-term chemical gradients, which is crucial for precise chemotaxis studies.
Q: How are microfluidic chips used to analyze 3D cell migration in a physiologically relevant manner?
A: Microfluidic devices can be fabricated with integrated 3D structures, such as hydrogel-filled channels, to mimic the extracellular matrix. This capability allows researchers to observe and quantify cell migration in a more complex and physiologically relevant 3D environment, providing deeper insights than 2D cultures.
Q: What are the primary materials used in the fabrication of microfluidic chips for biological research?
A: Microfluidic chips for biological applications are commonly fabricated from materials like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), glass, and various thermoplastics. The material choice is critical and depends on factors such as the specific application, optical clarity needs, and compatibility with reagents or cells.
Q: What key quantitative data points can be collected from cell migration studies on microfluidic platforms?
A: Researchers can obtain quantitative data on various parameters, including cell migration speed, directionality, and persistence. Depending on the assay design, it is also possible to analyze cell-cell interactions, track morphological changes, and measure the effects of different chemical or physical stimuli.
Q: What are the general design considerations for a microfluidic device tailored for a specific cell migration study?
A: Designing a microfluidic device for a specific cell migration study involves tailoring the geometry of the chip, the dimensions of the fluidic channels, and the surface properties of the channels. These design choices are essential for creating the precise cellular microenvironment needed to isolate and study specific biological phenomena.
Featured Services
Feature Products
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CAT No
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Material
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Product Name
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Application
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MFCH-001
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Glass
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Herringbone Microfluidic Chip
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Processing samples and reagents in nucleic acid analysis, blood analysis, immunoassays and point-of-care diagnostics.
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MFMM-0723-JS12
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Glass
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Double Emulsion Droplet Chip
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Our double emulsion microfluidic chip, incorporating localized modifications and a classic flow-focusing structure, is specifically designed to generate stable and uniform double emulsion droplets.
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MFCH-005
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PDMS
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3D Cell Culture Chip-Neuron
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Neuron cell culture and study of axon transport, axon protein synthesis, axon damage/regeneration, signal transduction of axon to somatic signal.
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MFCH-009
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PDMS
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Synvivo-Idealized Co-Culture Network Chips (IMN2 radial)
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SynBBB 3D Blood Brain Barrier Model/SynRAM 3D Inflammation Model/SynTumor 3D Cancer Model/SynTox 3D Toxicology Model
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MFMM1-GJS4
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COC
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BE-Doubleflow Standard
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Studying circulating particles, cell interactions and simple organ on chip system construction.
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MFMM1-GJS6
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COC
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BE-Transflow Custom
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Used to construct cell interface or Air-Liquid interface (ALI) to study more complex culture systems.
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Click here to explore our complete product catalog.
For detailed inquiries regarding our offerings, reach out to our specialists.
References
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Anguiano, M.; et al. Characterization of three-dimensional cancer cell migration in mixed collagen-Matrigel scaffolds using microfluidics and image analysis. PLoSOne. 2017, 12(2): e0171417. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0171417
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Sala, Federico et al. "Microfluidic Lab-on-a-Chip for Studies of Cell Migration under Spatial Confinement." Biosensors vol. 12,8 604. 5 Aug. 2022, https://doi.org/10.3390/bios12080604
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Yazdanpanah Moghadam, Ehsan et al. "Microfluidic Wound-Healing Assay for Comparative Study on Fluid Dynamic, Chemical and Mechanical Wounding on Microglia BV2 Migration." Micromachines vol. 15,8 1004. 2 Aug. 2024, https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15081004
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Distributed under Open Access license CC BY 4.0, without modification.
