Control of single cell migration induced by robotically controlled microsource

Abstract

Cell migration is a cell movement that responds to certain stimuli driven by inner cytoskeleton network. Control of cell migration is a very challenging problem, and successfully addressing the problem will promote many promising biomedical applications. In this paper, we propose the use of a robotically controlled optical tweezers manipulation system to control a single cell to migrate to a desired region with a unified controller. Chemoattractant loaded microsource beads are employed to release the drug to generate gradient field, which induces cell polarization. A new geometric model that formulates the cell to confine within the high motility area while maintaining the microsource bead near the optical trap is established. Based on this model, a potential field function based controller is developed to migrate the cell to a desired region. Simulation and experiments results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.