High-throughput single-cell TCR - pMHC dissociation rate measurements performed by an autonomous microfluidic cellular processing unit

Abstract

We developed an integrated microfluidic cellular processing unit (mCPU) capable of autonomously isolating single cells, perform, measure, and on-the-fly analyze cell-surface dissociation rates, followed by recovery of selected cells. We performed proof-of-concept, high-throughput single-cell experiments characterizing pMHC-TCR interactions on live CD8+ T cells. The mCPU platform analyzed TCR-pMHC dissociation rates with a throughput of 50 cells per hour and hundreds of cells per run, and we demonstrate that cells can be selected, enriched, and easily recovered from the device.