Single cell manipulation technology

Abstract

With microfluidic technique emerging, cell manipulation technology combines with microfluidic become a promising tool for single-cell-level manipulation. To obtain a kind of or single pure target cell for eliminating interference of useless cells in the trial of molecular biology, genetic analysis, proteomics and single cell analysis, various cell manipulation techniques have been developed for recovery specific cells. In this review, we introduce the principles of each cell manipulation technology and overlook the latest achievements of cell manipulation technique by categorizing externally applied manipulation forces: optical, electrical, magnetic, acoustic, mechanical. We also summarize the advantages and drawbacks of each cell manipulation technique.