The SULSA Biophotonics Workstation

The Bio-workstation at the University of St Andrews is an interdisciplinary collaboration between physicists and biologists that has led to the development of novel cellular manipulation and imaging capabilities including:

• photoporation and transfection of cells,
• optical sorting and tweezing of cells, and
• advanced fluorescent and holographic imaging techniques.

A variety of light sources is available for use in micromanipulation and laser nanosurgery according to the specific needs of a given experiment. To make this novel approach possible, we are very grateful for funding from SULSA, EPSRC, RS MacDonald Charitable Trust and SUPA.

Below is shown our lastest Touch Screen Photoporation interface. The operator can pick the cells to be photoporated, and in real time the cells are porated/transfected/injected (see below for more details).

We are pioneering novel approaches and platforms that will be important for both Industry and Academia. As well as SULSA, our truly interdisciplinary approach means that we have received funding and have connections with EPSRC, BBSRC, RS Macdonald Trust, Wolfson Foundation and other pooling initiatives including the Stanford and Scottish Universities Partnership (SU2P) and SUPA (see links).

Please look under Research to see the types of things we are able to achieve. However highlight techniques are Photoporation. This is a novel light based alternative to the traditional techniques for drug and gene delivery into cells. It offers a wide range of advantages over other techniques.

What are the advantages of Photoporation?

• Selectivity: single cells (in a population of cells), multiple cells, and tissue
• Sub-cellular accuracy: different parts of cells do different functions. It is possible to
target these different regions
• Both adherent and non-adherent cells can be porated
• Sterility as light is delivered through the microscope objective
• High cell viability with high efficiency
• Flexibility – can be implemented in multiple formats:
– Microfluidics for high-throughput processing
– Fibre/endoscope for in vivo use
– Easy “point and shoot” technology
• Compatibility with any fluorescence microscope
• Easy integration in Lab-on-a-Chip systems
• Dynamic re-configurability: “The Optical Syringe” soft focussing

What cell-types have been Photoporated?
• A wide variety of cell-types have been used:
– Cell-lines: e.g. CHOK1, HEK293, NIH3T3, HeLa, NG108, HepG2, HL60, HuH-7, SU-DLH-4,
NTERA-2, MO-2058, PFSK-1, 184-A1, CEM, SK-N-SH, PC12, MDCK, MCF-7, PtK2
– Difficult cells: e.g. stem cells, MC10FA
– Primary cells: e.g. Hippocampal neurons, astrocytes, cardiac, kidney cells, plant cells

What substances have been injected?
– Nucleic acids: DNA, mRNA, iRNA
– Gold nanoparticles
– Cell impermeable chemical compounds

What is the efficiency of the technique?
• We can achieve up to 95% efficiencies whilst still keeping viability
• Examples of our ‘biological’ efficiency studies: see publications