Article
Chemistry, Physical
Zoltan Szittner, Beatrix Peter, Sandor Kurunczi, Inna Szekacs, Robert Horvath
Summary: This review summarizes the current state of label-free identification and functional characterization of leukocytes using biosensors and novel single cell techniques. Label-free characterization offers advantages such as decreased processing time and reagent costs, point-of-care diagnostics, and the ability to analyze cells in real-time kinetic processes. Techniques for characterizing single cells on solid substrates, particularly surface sensitive technologies, are emphasized. These techniques are important for studying small cell populations and individual cells in health and disease. Novel label-free approaches also provide solutions for extracting unlabeled cells for downstream processing.
ADVANCES IN COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Immunology
Arianna Barbetta, Brittany Rocque, Deepika Sarode, Johanna Ascher Bartlett, Juliet Emamaullee
Summary: Solid organ transplantation is the standard treatment for end-stage organ disease, but the most frequent complication is allograft rejection. Reliable biomarkers for detecting rejection episodes are currently lacking. Emerging single-cell technologies provide new opportunities to study allograft rejection and tolerance, but expertise in computational biology is required to handle the large datasets.
SEMINARS IN IMMUNOPATHOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Hematology
Natalia Eberhardt, Chiara Giannarelli
Summary: The development of innovative single-cell technologies has allowed for in-depth analysis of the transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of individual blood and tissue cells. Recent single-cell studies have revealed the cellular heterogeneity of atherosclerotic plaque tissue and provided a better understanding of the immune functional states in the context of atherosclerosis.
ARTERIOSCLEROSIS THROMBOSIS AND VASCULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Cell Biology
Jonathan Anker, Justin Miller, Nicole Taylor, Natasha Kyprianou, Che-Kai Tsao
Summary: Immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of many cancer types, with particular progress seen in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. While clinical benefit from immunotherapy is limited to certain patients, combination-based approaches have shown improved outcomes. Ongoing translational work has helped illuminate response mechanisms and resistance to immunotherapy, shaping the future of treatment for RCC.
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Carlos Honrado, Paolo Bisegna, Nathan S. Swami, Federica Caselli
Summary: Microfluidic impedance cytometry is a label-free and high-throughput method for stratifying cellular systems based on electrophysiology, with applications ranging from life science research to precision medicine. Novel chip designs and data analytic strategies are laying the foundation for multiparametric cell characterization and subpopulation distinction, essential for understanding biological function and disease progression. Emerging developments in the technique, such as device design, data analytics, and phenotyping applications, offer exciting prospects for future challenges and directions in label-free quantification and isolation of subpopulations in heterogeneous biosystems.
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Yishen Tian, Rong Hu, Guangshi Du, Na Xu
Summary: Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a personalized therapy that has shown great success in treating hematologic malignancies and potential applications for solid tumors. Microfluidic chips have advantages of high throughput, low cell damage, and fast amplification rates, and can simplify ACT preparation steps and reduce costs.
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Yupan Wu, Yingqi Meng
Summary: This paper reviews emerging tools enabled by microfluidic technologies for cell manipulation, including sorting and single cell trapping, and even single cell characterization. The focus is on electric field, mechanical, and fluorescence-based methods for single cell analysis and characterization, as well as the integrated microfluidic devices. The authors further discuss future commercialization and research prospects, highlight current bottlenecks, and provide their perspective on the prospects for microfluidic cell manipulation.
TRAC-TRENDS IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Jingjing Sun, Xiwei Huang, Jin Chen, Rikui Xiang, Xiang Ke, Siru Lin, Weipeng Xuan, Shan Liu, Zhen Cao, Lingling Sun
Summary: Cell sorting is crucial for cell research, and deformation-assisted microfluidic cell sorting technologies offer a promising label-free approach. This review summarizes recent advances in these technologies, categorizing them into indirect and direct methods. Cell deformability, as an additional dimension beyond size, provides valuable information for cell sorting.
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Xuhao Luo, Jui-Yi Chen, Marzieh Ataei, Abraham Lee
Summary: Traditional cellular analytical technologies often overlook the individual differences within a cell population, while microfluidic technology allows for precise manipulation of individual cells in small volumes, thus providing a better understanding of cellular heterogeneity.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mark A. Travis, Chiara Romagnani
Summary: Active control of the immune system is necessary to prevent inflammatory bowel disease. Cell populations that promote the generation of immunosuppressive regulatory T cells in the gut have been identified.
Article
Psychology, Social
L. Taylor Phillips, Sora Jun
Summary: Research shows that objectively discriminatory decisions described as favoring are less likely to be recognized as discrimination compared to those described as disfavoring, because favoring decisions are perceived to be motivated by positive intentions. This phenomenon may lead individuals to overlook the discriminatory nature of favoritism, contributing to the persistence of inequities.
JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Fei Tian, Lili Cai, Chao Liu, Jiashu Sun
Summary: Functional nanoparticles (NPs) have immense potential in various fields due to their unique properties related to size or morphology. Microfluidic technologies are versatile toolkits for manufacturing NPs in a highly controlled manner with low variability between batches. Future directions in microfluidic fabrication inclu
Review
Chemistry, Analytical
Yixin Liu, Zihui Fan, Liang Qiao, Baohong Liu
Summary: This review focuses on advanced microfluidic strategies for single-cell research, specifically in the fields of tumorigenesis and evolution, immune responses, and drug discovery. It discusses the design and methods of microfluidic devices for single-cell analysis, as well as the applications of microfluidics in cell biology, disease diagnosis, and therapy. The limitations and future perspectives of microfluidics-based single-cell analysis are also discussed.
TRAC-TRENDS IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Maeve P. Nagle, Gabriela S. Tam, Evan Maltz, Zachary Hemminger, Roy Wollman
Summary: Biological organization spans various spatial scales, with increasingly detailed molecular profiling allowing for thorough cataloging of components at each scale. Emerging highly multiplexed in situ profiling technologies pave the way for studying spatial organization in greater detail. These powerful techniques provide insights into tissue organization principles from cell biology to physiology.
Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Joseph C. Devlin, Jordan Axelrad, Ashley M. Hine, Shannon Chang, Suparna Sarkar, Jian-Da Lin, Kelly Ruggles, David Hudesman, Ken Cadwell, P'ng Loke
Summary: A comparison of tissue from patients with ulcerative colitis and pouchitis using single-cell RNA sequencing revealed distinct myeloid cell and T cell populations in inflamed tissues. The study also found a correlation between myeloid cell characteristics and non-responsiveness to anti-integrin biologic therapies in patients with ulcerative colitis.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zoe Swank, Gregoire Michielin, Hon Ming Yip, Patrick Cohen, Diego O. Andrey, Nicolas Vuilleumier, Laurent Kaiser, Isabella Eckerle, Benjamin Meyer, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: A novel microfluidic nanoimmunoassay technology has been developed for high-throughput detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in human blood samples, showing high specificity and sensitivity. Using two commercial devices and a blood glucose test strip, a low-cost and ultralow-volume whole blood sampling method without the need for venipuncture has been successfully achieved. This technology is expected to be applicable to current and future SARS-CoV-2 related serological studies.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Simone Giaveri, Adeline Marie Schmitt, Laura Roset Julia, Vincenzo Scamarcio, Anna Murello, Shiyu Cheng, Laure Menin, Daniel Ortiz, Luc Patiny, Sreenath Bolisetty, Raffaele Mezzenga, Sebastian Josef Maerkl, Francesco Stellacci
Summary: Plastic pollution poses a significant challenge to humanity, while proteins, as sustainable natural polymers, can be recycled and used to produce new proteins like GFP.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Laura Grasemann, Barbora Lavickova, M. Carolina Elizondo-Cantu, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: The PURE system is a promising chassis for cell-free synthetic biology, but commercially available systems are expensive while homemade methods are time-consuming and laborious. Streamlining protein purification through coculturing and co-purification can minimize time and labor requirements.
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Fabien Jammes, Julien Schmidt, George Coukos, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: We have developed an integrated microfluidic cellular processing unit that can autonomously isolate and analyze the cell-surface dissociation rates, and recover selected cells. By performing high-throughput single-cell experiments, we have characterized the pMHC-TCR interactions on live CD8+ T cells.
Letter
Infectious Diseases
Elsa Lorthe, Mathilde Bellon, Julie Berthelot, Gregoire Michielin, Arnaud G. L'Huillier, Klara M. Posfay-Barbe, Andrew S. Azman, Idris Guessous, Sebastian J. Maerkl, Isabella Eckerle, Silvia Stringhini
LANCET INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Ragunathan Bava Ganesh, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: Cell-free biology is increasingly used for engineering biological systems and bypassing the limitations associated with cells. This review focuses on the role of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases and tRNA in translation and protein synthesis, summarizes the progress in cell-free engineering of tRNAs and AARSs, and discusses the prospects and challenges in this field.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elsa Lorthe, Mathilde Bellon, Gregoire Michielin, Julie Berthelot, Maria-Eugenia Zaballa, Francesco Pennacchio, Meriem Bekliz, Florian Laubscher, Fatemeh Arefi, Javier Perez-Saez, Andrew S. Azman, Arnaud G. L'Huillier, Klara M. Posfay-Barbe, Laurent Kaiser, Idris Guessous, Sebastian J. Maerkl, Isabella Eckerle, Silvia Stringhini
Summary: This study reports the findings of a prospective epidemiological, virological, and serological investigation of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in a primary school. The results demonstrate child-to-child and child-to-adult transmission of SARS-CoV-2, as well as its introduction into households. Effective measures to limit transmission in schools have the potential to reduce community circulation.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Amir Shahein, Maria Lopez-Malo, Ivan Istomin, Evan J. Olson, Shiyu Cheng, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: This research provides a detailed characterization of low-affinity binding site clusters, showing that transcription factors can bind concurrently to overlapping sites, challenging the exclusivity of binding. Furthermore, even small clusters with low-affinity binding sites can achieve high occupancies at physiologically-relevant transcription factor concentrations. In vivo experiments demonstrate that low-affinity binding site clusters can generate transcriptional output comparable to consensus sites.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hon Ming Yip, Shiyu Cheng, Evan J. Olson, Michael Crone, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: Cells have the ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions through regulatory networks. The Pho regulon in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is one such system that activates in low phosphate concentration to scavenge phosphate. However, the precise mechanism of this regulon was unclear until a systems analysis on single cells revealed an intermediate nuclear localization state of the transcriptional master regulator Pho4p. This finding explains the observed programmatic states of the regulon and improves our understanding of gene regulatory networks.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gregoire Michielin, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: This study presents a method for directly encapsulating active biomolecules in semi-permeable microcapsules, achieved by using microcapsules made from poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. The method can be used for protecting biological active substances, encapsulating enzymes, and implementing compartmentalized DNA strand displacement reactions.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Barbora Lavickova, Laura Grasemann, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: The protein synthesis capacity of the PURE cell-free transcription-translation system can be significantly enhanced by using continuous dialysis via semipermeable membranes and chemostat operation, providing a promising technological basis for complex cell-free synthetic biology applications that require improved protein synthesis capacity.
ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gregoire Michielin, Fatemeh Arefi, Olha Puhach, Mathilde Bellon, Pascale Sattonnet-Roche, Arnaud G. L'Huillier, Isabella Eckerle, Benjamin Meyer, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: This study evaluates the diagnostic performance of dried blood microsampling combined with a high-throughput microfluidic nano-immunoassay (NIA) for identifying anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike IgG seropositivity. The results show that the combination of microsampling and NIA achieves a clinical sensitivity of 98.33% and specificity of 97.62% in individuals 11 months post infection, demonstrating the high performance of NIA.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Julia Tischler, Zoe Swank, Hao-An Hsiung, Stefano Vianello, Matthias P. Lutolf, Sebastian J. Maerkl
Summary: This study presents a low-cost system for controlling complex mammalian cell culture by combining conventional multi-well tissue culture plates with simple microfluidic control and system automation. The system allows for the generation of complex concentration profiles and has been applied to dynamic stimulation of stem-cell-based in vitro models for mammalian development. The results show that this system is a versatile and scalable tool that can be adapted to specific research questions and experimental demands.
CELL REPORTS METHODS
(2022)
Correction
Biochemical Research Methods
Julia Tischler, Zoe Swank, Hao-An Hsiung, Stefano Vianello, Matthias P. Lutolf, Sebastian J. Maerkl
CELL REPORTS METHODS
(2022)