Microfluidic chip of immunoassay system for kidney studies

In this research, we have demonstrated a microfluidic chip which is able to manipulate and pattern the cell in the different culture chamber for Kidney studies integrated the dielectrophoresis (DEP) force. This design enables Escherichia coli (E. coli) Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to stimulate human monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1) without contact proximal tubular cell (HK-2). Therefore, cell-cell interaction can only be achieved by the transmission of cytokine. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HK-2 was observed after treated with IL-1β 150pg/ml for 72 hours in a 24-well plate. On the other hand, the result of DEP patterning shows a potential way to make cells proliferate on the condition of adjustable and appropriate cell density.