The Petri dish and microtiter plate are the golden standard for selection and screening of bacteria in microbiological research. To improve on the limited resolution and throughput of these methods, we developed a universal, user-friendly platform for selection and high-resolution phenotypic screening based on the nanowell slide. This miniaturized platform has an optimal ratio between throughput and assay complexity, holding 672 nanowells of 500 nl each. As monoclonality is essential in bacterial genetics, we used FACS to inoculate each nanowell with a single bacterium in 15 min. We further extended the protocol to select and sort only bacteria of interest from a mixed culture. We demonstrated this by isolating single transposon mutants generated by a custom-made transposon with dual selection for GFP fluorescence and kanamycin resistance. Optical compatibility of the nanowell slide enabled phenotypic screening of sorted mutants by spectrophotometric recording during incubation. By processing the absorbance data with our custom algorithm, a phenotypic screen for growth-associated mutations was performed. Alternatively, by processing fluorescence data, we detected metabolism-associated mutations, exemplified by a screen for -galactosidase activity. Besides spectrophotometry, optical compatibility enabled us to perform microscopic analysis directly in the nanowells to screen for mutants with altered morphologies. Despite the miniaturized format, easy transition from nano- to macroscale cultures allowed retrieval of bacterial mutants for downstream genetic analysis, demonstrated here by a cloning-free single-primer PCR protocol. Taken together, our FACS-linked nanowell slide replaces manual selection of mutants on agar plates, and enables combined selection and phenotypic screening in a one-step process. The versatility of the nanowell slide, and the modular workflow built on mainstream technologies, makes our universal platform widely applicable in microbiological research.

An optimal antimicrobial drug regimen is the key to successful clinical outcomes of bacterial infections. To direct the choice of antibiotic, access to fast and precise antibiotic susceptibility profiling of the infecting bacteria is critical. We have developed a high-throughput nanowell antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) device for direct, multiplexed analysis. By processing in real time the optical recordings of nanoscale cultures of reference and clinical uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains with a mathematical algorithm, the time point when growth shifts from lag phase to early logarithmic phase (T-lag) was identified for each of the several hundreds of cultures tested. Based on T-lag, the MIC could be defined within 4 h. Heatmap presentation of data from this high-throughput analysis allowed multiple resistance patterns to be differentiated at a glance. With a possibility to enhance multiplexing capacity, this device serves as a high-throughput diagnostic tool that rapidly aids clinicians in prescribing the optimal antibiotic therapy.

Droplet microfluidic platforms have, while enabling high-throughput manipulations and the assaying of single cell scale compartments, been lacking interfacing to allow macro scale access to the output from droplet microfluidic operations. Here, we present a simple and high-throughput method for individually directing cell containing droplets to an addressable and macro scale accessible microwell slide for downstream analysis. Picoliter aqueous droplets containing low gelling point agarose and eGFP expressing Escherichia coli (E. coli) are created in a microfluidic device, solidified to agarose beads and transferred into an aqueous buffer. A Fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) is used to sort agarose beads containing cells into microwells in which the growth and expansion of cell colonies is monitored. We demonstrate fast sorting and high accuracy positioning of sorted 15 μm gelled droplet agarose beads into microwells (14 × 48) on a 25 mm × 75 mm microscope slide format using a FACS with a 100 μm nozzle and an xy-stage. The interfacing method presented here enables the products of high-throughput or single cell scale droplet microfluidics assays to be output to a wide range of microtiter plate formats familiar to biological researchers lowering the barriers for utilization of these microfluidic platforms.

We present a high-throughput technique to interface picoliter droplet microfluidics for single cell analysis with a macro scale accessible array platform by the addition of an agarose gelling agent to droplets and patterned positioning of the resulting hydrogel beads using a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS). This resulted in a pattern with 95 % single bead accuracy. Agarose beads containing eGFP expressing E. Coli were single sorted into microwells and E. coli growth was monitored over time.

Understanding biomolecular gradients and their role in biological processes is essential for fully comprehending the underlying mechanisms of cells in living tissue. Conventional in vitro gradient-generating methods are unpredictable and difficult to characterize, owing to temporal and spatial fluctuations. The field of microfluidics enables complex user-defined gradients to be generated based on a detailed understanding of fluidic behavior at the μm-scale. By using microfluidic gradients created by flow, it is possible to develop rapid and dynamic stepwise concentration gradients. However, cells exposed to stepwise gradients can be perturbed by signals from neighboring cells exposed to another concentration. Hence, there is a need for a device that generates a stepwise gradient at discrete and isolated locations. Here, we present a microfluidic device for generating a stepwise concentration gradient, which utilizes a microwell slide’s pre-defined compartmentalized structure to physically separate different reagent concentrations. The gradient was generated due to flow resistance in the microchannel configuration of the device, which was designed using hydraulic analogy and theoretically verified by computational fluidic dynamics simulations. The device had two reagent channels and two dilutant channels, leading to eight chambers, each containing 4 microwells. A dose-dependency assay was performed using bovine aortic endothelial cells treated with saponin. High reproducibility between experiments was confirmed by evaluating the number of living cells in a live-dead assay. Our device generates a fully mixed fluid profile using a simple microchannel configuration and could be used in various gradient studies, e.g., screening for cytostatics or antibiotics.

The present study reports a newly developed, microfluidic concentration gradient generator that adds substantial utility to the high-throughput nature of the microwell slide that we have previously established [1, 2]. Using microfluidic dynamics, we have designed microchannels to deliver a reagent and its dilutant with precisely controlled flow volumes, generating 8 discrete steps of reagent concentration in designated microwells. As proof of concept FITC-labeled dextran and dextran-free water was used to visualize the concentration gradient. The next step will be to perform cancer drug concentration gradient experiments on an animal cell line.

We present an automated high content screening method for single-cell analysis on a microwell slide. The 672 wells are screened in 73 minutes, i.e. a 10-fold increase, yielding a negative/positive response using an automated confocal software. This screening method is highly sophisticated, rapid and results in high-resolution imaging. The next step is to apply the method to a heterogeneous glioma cell line using a stem cell- and astrocyte marker to study the link between marker expression and proliferation rate on single cells. The resulting images are input files in a cell analyzing software to attain information about cell density, co-localization, cell size and cell count.