Highly efficient cellular cloning using Ferro-core Micropallet Arrays.

Advancing knowledge of biological mechanisms has come to depend upon genetic manipulation of cells and organisms, relying upon cellular cloning methods that remain unchanged for decades, are labor and time intensive, often taking many months to come to fruition. Thus, there is a pressing need for more efficient processes. We have adapted a newly developed micropallet array platform, termed the "ferro-core micropallet array", to dramatically improve and accelerate the process of isolating clonal populations of adherent cells from heterogeneous mixtures retaining the flexibility of employing a wide range of cytometric parameters for identifying colonies and cells of interest.

Large area magnetic micropallet arrays for cell colony sorting.

A new micropallet array platform for adherent cell colony sorting has been developed. The platform consisted of thousands of square plastic pallets, 270 μm by 270 μm on each side, large enough to hold a single colony of cells. Each pallet included a magnetic core, allowing them to be collected with a magnet after being released using a microscope mounted laser system.