UC Berkeley

Microfluidic devices that can analyze single cells at high throughput are powerful tools in biomedical research, and many such technologies have been developed in recent years. Node-pore sensing (NPS) is one such platform, and NPS devices have been developed that measure a variety of both physical and molecular cell properties. The NPS platform benefits from being inherently label-free, meaning that cells do not need to be tagged with fluorescent or magnetic labels. Additionally, as NPS relies on an entirely electronic measurement, it is a robust system that is relatively low-cost to implement. These factors make NPS an attractive platform for biomedical research because it is accessible and easy to use while enabling multi-parameter single-cell measurements. This platform has already led to several new biological discoveries, although it still has some technical limitations. This dissertation focuses on characterizing the NPS platform and extending its technical capabilities. First, we present a quantitative study demonstrating the user-friendliness and reliability of our custom NPS data processing software. Second, we describe the theoretical framework and experimental characterization of a novel method to achieve multichannel NPS measurements for the first time. Finally, we introduce a new NPS platform with the unique ability to combine single-cell label-free mechanical and biomolecular measurements. These advancements pave the way toward next-generation, fully integrated NPS devices that can provide new insight into biologically and clinically important questions.