Using components similar those that control electrons in
microchips, researchers have designed a new device that can sort, store and
retrieve individual cells for study.
A U.S. and Korean research team has developed a chip-like
device that could be scaled up to sort and store hundreds of thousands of
individual living cells in a matter of minutes. The system is similar to a
random access memory chip, but it moves cells rather than electrons.
Researchers at Duke University and Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute
of Science and Technology (DGIST) in the Republic of Korea hope the
cell-sorting system will revolutionize research by allowing the fast, efficient
control and separation of individual cells that could then be studied in vast
numbers.