Multifunctional single beam acoustic tweezer for non-invasive cell/organism manipulation and tissue imaging

Lam, K. H. , Li, Y., Li, Y., Lim, H. G., Zhou, Q. and Shung, K. K. (2016) Multifunctional single beam acoustic tweezer for non-invasive cell/organism manipulation and tissue imaging. Scientific Reports, 6, 37554. (doi: 10.1038/srep37554) (PMID:27874052) (PMCID:PMC5118718)

Abstract

Non-contact precise manipulation of single microparticles, cells, and organisms has attracted considerable interest in biophysics and biomedical engineering. Similar to optical tweezers, acoustic tweezers have been proposed to be capable of manipulating microparticles and even cells. Although there have been concerted efforts to develop tools for non-contact manipulation, no alternative to complex, unifunctional tweezer has yet been found. Here we report a simple, low-cost, multifunctional single beam acoustic tweezer (SBAT) that is capable of manipulating an individual micrometer scale non-spherical cell at Rayleigh regime and even a single millimeter scale organism at Mie regime, and imaging tissue as well. We experimentally demonstrate that the SBAT with an ultralow f-number (f# = focal length/aperture size) could manipulate an individual red blood cell and a single 1.6 mm-diameter fertilized Zebrafish egg, respectively. Besides, in vitro rat aorta images were collected successfully at dynamic foci in which the lumen and the outer surface of the aorta could be clearly seen. With the ultralow f-number, the SBAT offers the combination of large acoustic radiation force and narrow beam width, leading to strong trapping and high-resolution imaging capabilities. These attributes enable the feasibility of using a single acoustic device to perform non-invasive multi-functions simultaneously for biomedical and biophysical applications.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: . K.H.L. acknowledges support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (ECS Grant No. 253001/14P) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Grant Nos 4-ZZDC, 1-ZVCG, and G-YBLM). K.K.S. acknowledges support from NIH Grant Nos R01-EB12058 and P41-EB02182.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Lam, Dr Koko
• Authors: Lam, K. H., Li, Y., Li, Y., Lim, H. G., Zhou, Q., and Shung, K. K.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © The Author(s) 2016
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 6: 37554
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

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