| Single cell analysis techniques are valuable for revealing individual cell behaviour, which is of interest to many researchers. In such experiments, various types of devices capable of aligning cells into organized arrays are often used. Application of cell arrays reduces the cell-cell interaction during the experiment, allows parallel analysis of cells and facilitates the use of automated equipment. This thesis documents the development of a novel Magnetic Single Cell Micro Array (MSCMA), which makes use of magnetic force to array cells. The working principles, process of design, simulation and fabrication of the prototypes of the MSCMA are described. Prototypes of the MSCMA were successfully fabricated and tested using Jurkat cells that have been labelled with immunomagnetic labels. Experimental results show that the prototypes are effectively in capturing and arraying the cells labelled with immunomagnetic labels. In addition, tests using simple magnetic particles revealed the behaviour of the magnetic field created by the MSCMA, and matched the simulation results well. Although the prototypes suffered from some fabrication defects, these defects had little effect on the performance of the prototypes. Design changes to the MSCMA are proposed for future work, such as implementing a transparent substrate, and addressing the issues of fabrication defects. |
