Soft handling probe using thermal gel for single cells

In this paper, we propose new probe device which can realize soft handling of single cells using thermal gel. In general, probe devices are one of the important devices for single cell manipulation. However, conventional probe devices have some problems: damage to the manipulated cells and difficulty to release the manipulated object by the effect of surface force. As one solution of these problems, we propose “soft handling probe” in this paper. The probe has an electrode on the surface of probe as a microheater. The thermoresponsive polymer can be gelled when a current is applied to the electrode. It is considered that the single cell can be caught by generated gel and handled by the probe. It is expected that the probe can realize the soft handling by the generated thermal gel and realize the precise positioning by reducing the effect of surface force. The electrode was fabricated on micropipettes by sputtering gold. The experiment to generate thermal gel was conducted by the fabricated probe. The generation of the thermal gel was observed when 0.05 A was applied to the electrode. The results indicate that the fabricated electrode can generate thermal gel around the probe and single cell can be caught by the generated gel. It is considered that the gentle cell manipulation and precise release of manipulated cells can be realized by the soft handling probe.