Live cell pool and rare cell isolation using Enrich TROVO system

Abstract

Although several technologies have been developed to isolate cells of interest from a heterogenous sample, clogging and impaired cell viability limit such isolation. We have developed the Enrich TROVO system as a novel, nonfluidic technology to sort live cells. The TROVO system combines imaging-based cell selection and photo-crosslinking of (gelatin methacrylate) gelMA-hydrogel to capture cells. After capture, cells are released by enzymatic digestion of the hydrogel and then retrieved for downstream analysis or further cell culturing. The system can capture cells with a recovery rate of 48% while maintaining 90% viability. Moreover, TROVO can enrich rare cells 506-fold with 93% efficiency using single step isolation from a 1:10⁴ cell mixture, and can also capture one target cell from 1 million cells, reaching an enrichment ratio of 9128. In addition, 100% purity and 49% recovery rate can be achieved by a following negative isolation process. Compared to existing technologies, the TROVO system is clog-resistant, highly biocompatible, and can process a wide range of sample sizes.