Control of Single-Cell Migration Using a Robot-Aided Stimulus-Induced Manipulation System

Cell migration is a natural movement that occurs in response to stimuli in a living environment. Analysis and control of cell-migration behavior can help elucidate various developmental and maintenance processes of multicellular organisms, thereby contributing to the development of new target therapy approaches. In this study, we successfully achieved the automated control of single-cell migration by utilizing the intrinsic migration ability of cells in an engineering control framework. Chemoattractant-loaded microsource beads trapped by robotically controlled optical tweezers were used to release the stimuli and consequently induce target cells to migrate into a desired region. Cell-movement dynamics under optical tweezer manipulation was analyzed. A new geometric model that confined microsource beads within the effective trapping area of the optical tweezers and the high-motility area of the cell under study was established. Based on this model, we developed a potential field function-based controller that handled the optical tweezers in manipulating the microsource beads, thereby stimulating cells to migrate into desired regions. Simulations and experiments were further performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.