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We actuate with light & magnets, we fold & unfold DNA, we cell-free express proteins, we play with drops, marbles & interfaces, we organize particles, we harness coffee rings.

Microfluidics for synthetic, cell and systems biology



Microfluidics for synthetic, cell and systems biology
We develop microfluidic devices for applied and fundamental investigations in biology, such as DNA separation, DNA-binder complexes discrimination, immunoassays, on-chip cell culture, sorting and trapping. By constraining yeast cells in curved channels, a novel mechanism linking micro-tubules organization and cell shape was evidenced. By direct micro-contact printing of living bacteria on an agarose gel, large-scale arrays of single living cells were generated to analyze growth rate distribution, aging, and population dynamics. By developping a microfluidic device allowing real-time, single-cell tracking of all individual phenotypes in a growing population of bacteria, new stochastic and physiological parameters determining individual cell fate have been identified. By using a technique called "oil micro-sealing", we can generate large arrays of independent micro-chambers without any valve and apply such arrays for single-cell DNA extraction and mapping, vesicle trapping, and light-addressable reconstituted gene expression systems. Recently, we described a method for fast and controlled manipulation of nanoliter micro-droplets by light, which can be further applied for cell manipulation or light-driven fluidics.

Key-publications

Photoreversible Fragmentation of a Liquid Interface for Micro-Droplet Generation by Light Actuation
A. Diguet, H. Li, N. Queyriaux, Y. Chen, D. Baigl*, Lab Chip 2011,11, 2666-2669 - doi : 10.1039/C1LC20328B -
Light-controlled actuation and generation of drolets in a microfluidic device based on photo-dependent wetting

Oil micro-sealing: a robust micro-compartmentalization method for on-chip chemical and biological assays
A. Yamada, F. Barbaud, L. Cinque, L. Wang, Q. Zeng, Y. Chen, D. Baigl*, Small 2010, 6, 2169 - doi : 10.1002/smll.201000507 -
A convenient and robust method to distribute a biological or a chemical solution in an array of pL chambers without any valve nor mechanical element

Pre-dispositions and epigenetic inheritance in the Escherichia coli lactose operon bistable switch
L. Robert, G. Paul, Y. Chen, F. Taddei, D. Baigl*, A. B. Lindner*, Mol. Syst. Biol. 2010, 6, 357 - doi : 10.1038/msb.2010.12 -
By following single-cell expression in a growing microcolony of bacteria under a dynamic micro-environment, we established that both stochasticity and physicology (growth rate) determine the cell fate (here gene expression induction in the lactose operon).

Physical Mechanisms Redirecting Cell Polarity and Cell Shape in Fission Yeast
C. R. Terenna et al., Curr. Biol. 2008, 18, 1748 - doi : 10.1016/j.cub.2008.09.047 -
Here the confinement of yeast cells in curved microfluidic channel allows us to establish a novel mechanism linking micro-tubules organization and cell shape

Micro-Contact Printing of Living Bacteria Arrays with Cellular Resolution<
L. Xu, L. Robert, Q. Ouyang, F. Taddei, Y. Chen, A. B. Lindner, D. Baigl*, Nano Lett. 2007, 7, 2068 - doi : 10.1021/nl070983z -
Generation of large scale living bacteria array with a single-cell resolution by direct micro-contact printing of E. coli on a agarose gel substrate.