Laser-fabricated cell patterning stencil for single cell analysis

abstract: Precise spatial positioning and isolation of mammalian cells is a critical component of many single cell experimental methods and biological engineering applications. Although a variety of cell patterning methods have been demonstrated, many of these methods subject cells to high stress environments, discriminate against certain phenotypes, or are a challenge to implement. Here, we demonstrate a rapid, simple, indiscriminate, and minimally perturbing cell patterning method using a laser fabricated polymer stencil. The stencil fabrication process requires no stencil-substrate alignment, and is readily adaptable to various substrate geometries and experiments.The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: https://bmcbiotechnol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12896-017-0408-