Acoustic tweezers: manipulating micro-objects with the power of sound
Open Access
- Author:
- Guo, Feng
- Graduate Program:
- Engineering Science and Mechanics
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 16, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Jun Huang, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jun Huang, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Bernhard R Tittmann, Committee Member
Bruce Gluckman, Committee Member
Corina Stefania Drapaca, Committee Member
Siyang Zheng, Special Member - Keywords:
- acoustic tweezers
microfluidics
cell-cell interaction
cell printing
crystallography
disposable device. - Abstract:
- Sound can be music to please the ear, however the waves produced can be utilized as “Acoustic Tweezers” for the manipulation of cells and particles in a fluid medium. The ability to dexterously and noninvasively manipulate biological specimens such as organisms, cells, proteins, and DNAs in a compact system is critical for many applications in the fields of life sciences, biomedicine and chemistry. Acoustic tweezer technology is a revolutionary way to satisfy this requirement. Firstly, this technique manipulates cells or particles using gentle mechanical vibrations. These vibrations create a pressure gradient in the medium to move suspended micro-objects yielding a contamination-free, non-contact, and label-free manipulation. Secondly, acoustic tweezers have minimal impact on cell viability and function, which operates at a power intensity and frequency similar to the widely used medical ultrasound imaging. Thirdly, the acoustic tweezer device can operate in a single micro-device without any external moving parts or complicate setups, which offer additional advantages in ease of use, versatility and portability. In this dissertation, we have developed a series of acoustic tweezers that can achieve manipulation of micro-objects in a liquid medium: 1) tunable acoustic wells to control cell-cell distance and geometry of suspended cell assemblies; 2) 3D acoustic tweezers to dexterously transport single cells in a three-dimensional manner; 3) simple, low-cost and reusable acoustic tweezers used for various disposable devices; and 4) application of the reusable acoustic tweezer technology in precisely manipulating and patterning micrometer-sized protein crystals for X-ray crystallography.