Manipulating cells in microfluidic chips is often accomplished with a magnetically driven microtool (MMT), driven by a permanent magnet. However MMTs driven by permanent magnets suffer from low positioning accuracy and response speed. Here, Masaya Hagiwara (Nagoya University) and colleagues have devised a new way of driving MMTs – using a piezoelectric ceramic induce ultrasonic vibration and reduce the effective friction. The result is a 1.1 mm positioning accuracy of the microrobot, which is 100 times higher than operating without vibration.
This HOT article is featured on the cover of Issue 12 and is free to access for 6 weeks:
On-chip magnetically actuated robot with ultrasonic vibration for single cell manipulations
Masaya Hagiwara, Tomohiro Kawahara, Yoko Yamanishi, Taisuke Masuda, Lin Feng and Fumihito Arai
Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 2049-2054
DOI: 10.1039/C1LC20164F
