Microsurgery and biopsies on individual cells in a cellular microenvironment are of great importance to better understand the fundamental cellular processes at subcellular and even single-molecular levels. However, it is still a big challenge for in situ surgery without interfering with neighboring living cells. Here, we report a thermoplasmonics combined optical trapping (TOT) technique for in situ single-cell surgery and intracellular organelle manipulation, without interfering with neighboring cells. A selective single-cell perforation was demonstrated via a localized thermoplasmonic effect, which facilitated further targeted gene delivery. Such a perforation was reversible, and the damaged membrane was capable of being repaired. Remarkably, a targeted extraction and precise manipulation of intracellular organelles were realized via the optical trapping. This TOT technique represents a new way for single-cell microsurgery, gene delivery, and intracellular organelle manipulation, and it provides a new insight for a deeper understanding of cellular processes as well as to reveal underlying causes of diseases associated with organelle malfunctions at a subcellular level.

Active and targeted bio-cargo delivery by micromotors holds exciting prospects in biomedical applications. However, such delivery still faces great challenges when implemented in bio-microenvironments with minimal invasiveness, flexible controllability, and full biocompatibility. Here, a noncontact delivery platform based on bio-micromotor tweezers is reported, which fulfill these demands by using hydrodynamic forces to exert precision control over bio-cargos. The concept is based on two optically trapped living microalgae cells with intrinsic motility and biocompatibility: The rotating cells generate highly localized flow fields, which can trap and drive cargos of arbitrary material and shape along controllable trajectories in different biological media in a noncontact manner. The proposed strategy is effective for both biological cells and drugs with minimalized biological damages due to the absence of harmful and cumbersome loading/unloading steps of bio-cargos on micromotors. Importantly, it is further applied to realize targeted drug delivery into single cancer cell for precise therapy. Such bio-micromotor tweezers provide great potential for different biomedical applications such as, targeted drug/ cell delivery, drug testing, accurate diagnosis, and precise therapy.

Bio‐Micromotor Tweezers In article number 2111038, Hongbao Xin, Baojun Li, and co‐workers construct bio‐micromotor tweezers for noninvasive bio‐cargo delivery and precise therapy based on two optically trapped living microalgae cells. The rotating cells generate highly localized flow fields, which can trap and drive bio‐cargos along controllable trajectories in different biological media in a noncontact and noninvasive manner, and further for targeted drug delivery into single cancer cell for precise therapy.

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