A microfluidic perfusion platform for cultivation and screening study of motile microalgal cells

Abstract

Systematic screening of algal cells is getting huge interest due to their capability of producing lipid-based biodiesel. Here, we introduce a new microfluidic platform composed of an array of perfusion chambers designed for long-term cultivation and preliminary screening of motile microalgal cells through loading and releasing of cells to and from the chambers. The chemical environment in each perfusion chamber was independently controlled for 5 days. The effect of nitrogen-depletion on the lipid production, phototaxis behavior in the absence of Ca 2þ , and cytotoxic effect of herbicide on microalgal cells was successfully monitored and compared with simultaneous control experiments on the platform. The present methodology could be extended to effective screening of algal cells and various cell lines for the production of biodiesel and other useful chemicals. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Microalgae on display: a microfluidic pixel-based irradiance assay for photosynthetic growth

“…28,29 Recent microfluidic advances directed at algal cultures include microfluidic reactors that study microalgal growth in static droplet arrays 30 and multiplexed chemical environments. 31,32 Recently, Shih et al 24 demonstrated how the effect of irradiance conditions on the growth of algae could be studied within a digital microfluidic platform. Eight cultures were studied simultaneously, each grown using a separate LED light source.…”

Applications of Microdroplet Technology for Algal Biotechnology

“…Insight into factors that affect and limit single-cell growth and behaviour might be applied to scale-up the growth of algae, both in flask culture in the laboratory, and at industrial scale for algal biotechnology. In fact, the behaviour of individual trapped microalgal cells has been studied using several different microfluidic approaches, trapping small numbers of cells in a range of devices, including microfluidic chambers [53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60] and capsules [61,62]. These are summarised in Table 1. Pan et al developed an experimental platform in which single microalgal cells were encapsulated into droplets and their growth tracked [51].…”

Design, Fabrication, and Application of a Microfluidic Device for Investigating Physical Stress-Induced Behavior in Yeast and Microalgae

“…Microalgae can produce high energy biochemicals through photosynthesis using sunlight, H 2 O, and CO 2 (Eu et al, 2014). Microalgae have therefore been recently proposed as a renewable energy alternative for the production of biofuels to meet the world's growing demand for fuels (Eu et al, 2014;Holcomb et al, 2011;Park et al, 2013).…”

“…Microalgae are photoautotrophic organisms and are generally more efficient converters of solar energy compared to terrestrial plants (Eu et al, 2014;Holcomb et al, 2011;Park et al, 2013). Microalgae can produce high energy biochemicals through photosynthesis using sunlight, H 2 O, and CO 2 (Eu et al, 2014).…”

“…Microalgae can produce high energy biochemicals through photosynthesis using sunlight, H 2 O, and CO 2 (Eu et al, 2014). Microalgae have therefore been recently proposed as a renewable energy alternative for the production of biofuels to meet the world's growing demand for fuels (Eu et al, 2014;Holcomb et al, 2011;Park et al, 2013). However, the production of biofuel from microalgae is currently too expensive using existing processing technology, so an efficient approach is urgently needed to reduce the development costs and time if this type of biofuel production is to become viable commercially.…”