High-throughput microfluidic living cell arrays for spatiotemporal gene expression profiling

The cellular microenvironment is remarkably complex. In the small space near each cell, growth factors are liberated from extracellular matrix, cytokines are secreted from neighboring cells, and hormones arrive from distant organs. These spatially and temporally diverse cues are integrated by signal transduction cascades to modulate the activity of transcription factors, the principle regulators of gene expression. To date, experimental investigation of spatial and temporal transcription factor activation patterns has been limited by the use of destructive measurement techniques that require averaging responses over large cell populations. Similarly, control of complex microenvironments has been limited by the use of static tissue culture platforms. This thesis describes development of a high-throughput experimental platform called the microfluidic living cell array (mLCA) that combines fluidically-addressable cell arrays with a library of GFP reporter cells to enable nondestructive spatiotemporal gene expression profiling in living cells. The first section describes construction of the GFP reporter library and the development of methodologies for performing routine seeding and culture of cells in microfluidic channels. Microfluidic circuits are then designed to achieve parallel control of soluble stimulus concentration and timing for delivery to downstream cells. A novel "Flow-encoded Switching" (FES) design strategy is introduced to control simultaneous delivery of temporally distinct stimulus patterns using a single input. These circuits are demonstrated by profiling dynamic transcriptional responses to cytokine stimulation, and in each case, cell responses are found to depend quantitatively and qualitatively on the timing of the stimulus.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• King, Kevin R. (Kevin Robert), 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mehmet Toner and Martin L. Yarmush.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43809

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/43809