A cell-based assay for rapid chemical screening

Micro cell culture systems have potential advantages in many aspects over traditional cell culturing techniques. The development of the system is promising in the pharmaceutical industry and in the study of fundamental cell biology. In this work, we develop a microfluidic assay for determination of the individual cell's response to chemical exposure. A steady spatial chemical gradient is generated inside a microchannel. Individual cells experienced different chemical concentrations according to the position that the cell adhered to the channel. The microfluidic assay allows rapid determination of the cell response to many different chemical concentrations simultaneously. The activity of the tac promoter in E. coli in response to different concentration of the inducer IPTG are measured to demonstrate the use of the system.