Cost-efficient boundary-free surface patterning achieves high effective-throughput of time-lapse microscopy experiments

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 10; p. e0275804
• Main Authors: Liang, Guohao, Yin, Hong, Allard, Jun, Ding, Fangyuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 27.10.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adhesives; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; Cell surface; Embryo cells; Embryonic stem cells; Engineering and Technology; Experiments; Free surfaces; High-throughput screening (Biochemical assaying); Humidity; Lasers; Methods; Microscope and microscopy; Microscopy; Pattern formation; Phenotypes; Physical Sciences; Research and Analysis Methods; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; United States
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275804

Time-lapse microscopy plays critical roles in the studies of cellular dynamics. However, setting up a time-lapse movie experiments is not only laborious but also with low output, mainly due to the cell-losing problem (i.e., cells moving out of limited field of view), especially in a long-time recording. To overcome this issue, we have designed a cost-efficient way that enables cell patterning on the imaging surfaces without any physical boundaries. Using mouse embryonic stem cells as an example system, we have demonstrated that our boundary-free patterned surface solves the cell-losing problem without disturbing their cellular phenotype. Statistically, the presented system increases the effective-throughput of time-lapse microscopy experiments by an order of magnitude.