Opto-electrostatic micromanipulation of single cell and DNA molecule

This paper presents the opto-electrostatic micromanipulation (OEMM) of single cell/DNA molecule. Single cell is trapped at the center of a microscope field by optical pressure and is oriented along the electric field lines by electrostatic force. Precise measurement of shape or electrical properties of individual cell can be made by this technique. Using a rotating electric field, a cell can be rotated. The frequency dependence of rotational characteristics may be utilized to determine its viability. The OEMM is also applied in manipulation of single DNA molecule. The molecule can be trapped optically and stretched using flow and/or electrophoretic force. The fragments are cut from a stretched DNA molecule, and are recovered successively. Using this procedure, fragments of the single DNA molecule can be prepared without loss of the order information. This technique may contribute to enhance speed of DNA sequencing.