The microfluidic guillotine, a new cell cutting device developed by Stanford scientists, revolutionizes the process of dividing individual cells for research. The new device opens doors for medical research on cell repair to reduce the implications of cancer and degenerative diseases.
For the past century, scientists have used glass needles to cut cells under a microscope. The first cells would have partially healed by the time the hundredth cell was cut. Assistant professor of mechanical engineering Sindy Tang M.S. ’04 and her lab developed the microfluidic guillotine to speed up the cutting process up to 64 cells each minute.
