Picosecond laser capture microdissection based on edge catapulting combined with dielectrophoretic force

Abstract

The spatial omics information analysis of heterogeneous cells or cell populations is of great importance for biomedical research. Herein, we proposed a picosecond laser capture microdissection boosted by edge catapulting combined with dielectrophoretic force (ps-LMED) that enables fast and non-invasive acquisition of uncontaminated cells and cell populations for downstream molecular assays. The target cells were positioned under a microscope and separated by a focused picosecond pulsed laser. The system employed the plasma expansion force during cutting to lift the target and captured it under dielectrophoretic force from the charged collection cap eventually. The principle of our system has been validated by both theoretical analysis and practical experiments. The results indicated that our system can collect samples ranging from a single cell with a diameter of a few microns to large tissues with a volume of 532,500 µm3 at the moment finishing the cutting, without further operations. The cutting experiments of living cells and ribonucleic acid (RNA) and protein omics analysis results of collected targets demonstrated the advantage of non-destructiveness to the samples and feasibility in omics applications.