Droplet Microfluidics
CHAPTER 6: The Drop-screen for Biological Functional Assay
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Published:20 Nov 2020
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Special Collection: 2020 ebook collectionSeries: Soft Matter Series
S. Wei, M. N. Hsu, and C. Chen, in Droplet Microfluidics, ed. C. Ren and A. Lee, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2020, pp. 147-174.
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The droplet-screen has emerged as an important tool that provides new experimental possibilities for high-throughput biological functional analysis. The continuous generation of large amounts of monodispersed droplets containing a single cell enables effective single-cell isolation for molecule secretion analysis. Based on the advantages of single-cell screening, droplet-based approaches have been conducted for a range of applications in quantitative biology, metabolic engineering and precision medicine. Herein, the recent drop-screen systems are introduced for single-cell functional profiling and sorting. For example, cell-secreted enzymes have been investigated by inserting fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based sensors within droplets for screening. A range of engineering enzymes produced by single cells for biological fabrications in the pharmaceutical industry were explored. The capability of biomarker indications allows one to isolate target clonal/mutants, contributing towards engineering biology and clinical treatment strategy.