Local streamline generation by mechanical oscillation in a microfluidic chip for noncontact cell manipulations

This paper presents a method to manipulate cells in a microfluidic chip without contact. A local streamline is generated when high-frequency oscillation of the microtool is induced in a microfluidic chip. The streamline can be controlled by tuning the oscillation parameters of the tool, such as the amplitude and phase of the oscillation. Cells then flow in the microchannel in accordance with the streamline, and their position, posture, and trajectories are controlled. Bovine oocyte manipulations, which were attraction, repulsion, and rotation, were conducted to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method without any contact by the oscillation tool.