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Porous microwells for geometry-selective, large-scale microparticle arrays

Nature Materials volume 16, pages 139–146 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Large-scale microparticle arrays (LSMAs) are key for material science and bioengineering applications. However, previous approaches suffer from trade-offs between scalability, precision, specificity and versatility. Here, we present a porous microwell-based approach to create large-scale microparticle arrays with complex motifs. Microparticles are guided to and pushed into microwells by fluid flow through small open pores at the bottom of the porous well arrays. A scaling theory allows for the rational design of LSMAs to sort and array particles on the basis of their size, shape, or modulus. Sequential particle assembly allows for proximal and nested particle arrangements, as well as particle recollection and pattern transfer. We demonstrate the capabilities of the approach by means of three applications: high-throughput single-cell arrays; microenvironment fabrication for neutrophil chemotaxis; and complex, covert tags by the transfer of an upconversion nanocrystal-laden LSMA.

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Figure 1: Porous microwells for microparticle arrays.
Figure 2: Scaling analysis and characteristic-specific positioning.
Figure 3: Advanced assembly techniques.
Figure 4: Post-assembly techniques.
Figure 5: Application of large-scale microwell arrays.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation grants CMMI-1120724, a Samsung Scholarship to J.J.K., and National Institutes of Health (GM092804). This work was supported in part by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under award number DMR-1419807. Microfabrication was performed at BioMEMS Resource Center (EB002503) and MTL, MIT. The modulus measurement was performed in G. McKinley’s and A. S. Myerson’s laboratories at MIT. We thank B. Hamza and E. J. Lim of the BioMEMS Resource Center for fabrication of Si wafer and insightful discussion, and L. C. Hsiao and H. Burak Eral for the modulus measurement.

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Author notes

  1. Jae Jung Kim and Ki Wan Bong: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

    Jae Jung Kim & Patrick S. Doyle

  2. BioMEMS Resource Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Shriners Hospital for Children, Massachusetts 02129, USA

    Ki Wan Bong, Eduardo Reátegui & Daniel Irimia

  3. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University, 02841, South Korea

    Ki Wan Bong

  4. Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts 02129, USA

    Eduardo Reátegui

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Contributions

J.J.K. and K.W.B. equally contributed to this work. J.J.K. designed the research, conducted the majority of the experiments, conducted a scaling analysis, and interpreted data. K.W.B. conceived the project, obtained preliminary results, and interpreted data. J.J.K. and E.R. designed and demonstrated the biological studies. P.S.D. and D.I. designed the research, supervised the study, and interpreted data. J.J.K., P.S.D. and D.I. wrote the manuscript, and all authors commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Daniel Irimia or Patrick S. Doyle.

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Competing interests

Two provisional US patent applications were filed on 1 November 2013 and 17 August 2016, respectively.

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Kim, J., Bong, K., Reátegui, E. et al. Porous microwells for geometry-selective, large-scale microparticle arrays. Nature Mater 16, 139–146 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4747

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