Real Time Measurement of Deformability Index for Electro-Mechanodiagnostics

We report a novel microfluidic platform to measure the stiffness of a single cell by evaluating its deformability index through the time information embedded in the electrical impedance data of the cell transit. The deformability index and transit time are two parameters that quantify the stiffness of a single cell passing through a constriction. Conventionally, the deformability index has been measured optically using a highspeed camera, which is expensive, bulky, time-consuming, and thus limits the portability and ease of mechanodiagnostics. Furthermore, the transit time of cell passage is prone to inadvertent flow rate fluctuations. We use Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy combined with a microfluidic channel integrated with an array of coplanar electrodes to evaluate the deformability index of the biological cells. Additionally, measurements of cell impedance during cell transit provides a multi-modal electromechanical signature of individual cells that can be correlated to their health or disease states. The portable and noninvasive method of mechano-phenotyping cell population would make electro-mechanodiagnostics possible.