Acoustic whirlpools to manipulate and organize individual cells
Article published by Michaël Baudoin and his team in the magazine Nature Communication.
This result, both scientific and technological, is the result of inter-university and industrial collaborative work, involving in particular several groups in our laboratory.
Teams and structures involved :
- l’IEMN : AIMAN FILMS / BIOMEMS / Plateforme WAVESURF à l’Université polytechnique des Hauts-de-France (UPHF)
- l’Institut des NanoSciences de Paris (INSP) : Jean-Louis Thomas
- la Satt Nord
Real image of an acoustic clamp held by a mechanical clamp
Synthesis of an acoustic vortex using a spiral holographic transducer and trapping of a cell in the centre of the vortex
Cells manipulated and organised individually using an acoustic clamp
The selection, manipulation and positioning of individual cells (or microorganisms) opens up unprecedented prospects for studying their behaviour, interactions, and response to mechanical stress (mechanotransduction) or for organizing them with a view to tissue engineering.
Researchers at the IEMN in collaboration with a researcher from the INSP have demonstrated that it is possible to use ultrasonic vortices to trap and manipulate individual cells with greater forces than their optical counterparts, without damaging them. These acoustic vortices are synthesized using holographic electrodes deposited on the surface of a piezoelectrically active material.
