Abstract

Optofluidic Imaging Flow Cytometry

Andrew J deMello, Principal Investigator, ETH Zurich

I will present recent activities aimed at developing novel microfluidic imaging flow cytometers for blur-free cellular analysis at throughputs exceeding 100,000 cells per second. By combining passive (inertial or viscoelastic) focusing of cells in parallel microchannels with stroboscopic illumination, such chip-based cytometers are able to extract multi-colour fluorescence and bright-field images of single cells moving at high linear velocities. This in turn allows accurate sizing of individual cells, intracellular localization and analysis of heterogeneous cell suspensions. The methods are showcased through the rapid enumeration of apoptotic cells, high-throughput discrimination cell cycle phases and localization of p-bodies. Additionally, the optofluidic platforms can be integrated with weakly-supervised deep learning methods to perform rapid diagnosis of diseases, such as cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.