Battery-powered miniaturized electroporation system for in-situ gene transfer in stem cell research

A battery-powered miniaturized electroporation (EP) system was designed and fabricated to tackle the challenging DNA transfection of stem cells. The system consists of a programmable mini-electroporator and a micro EP chip. Large statistical data of loading efficiency for five different size molecules and cell viability were determined under various voltage and duration in this system for HeLa cell and MEF cell line. Based on more than 2,000 single-cell electroporation experiments, an EP phase diagram for MEF cells have been generated for the first time. It can be used to significantly increase the in-situ gene transfer efficiency. In addition, the EP boundary curve for MEF cells can be described by a simple empirical formula. Comparing to the conventional instrument, the miniaturized electroporation system can greatly shorten the experimental time. We also proposed a new system for continuous online monitoring in-situ gene expression, which is still in progress.