Optical micromanipulation of multiple groups of cells

Microbiology is mainly concerned with the study of coexistence, cooperation and interaction among groups of microorganisms. In order to study the biological systems consist of interacting groups of microorganisms, optical manipulation can be utilized as a useful tool. In fact, the ability to manipulate several groups of microorganisms is an essential step towards studying how biological microorganisms communicate and cooperate to perform a wide range of multicellular behaviours. In addition, decomposition of a group of cells into smaller groups gives capability and flexibility in manipulation tasks and remarkably increases environmental adjustability. In this paper, we aim to provide a primary result in micromanipulation of multiple groups of cells. We develop a control methodology for dynamic coordination of multiple groups of cells. A rigorous mathematical formulation is provided and the stability analysis is presented. Using the proposed method, we are able to manipulate multiple groups of microparticles to construct time-varying micro-formations. The proposed method is also useful in examination of the interactions between several groups of living organisms in the desired inter-cellular distance. Experimental results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.