Abstract

Most biological applications require access to the cell’s components and machinery and therefore a cell lysis step is required. Droplet-based microfluidics has the ability to perform millions of distinct biological assays on individual cells. Typically, droplet-based cell lysis is achieved in presence of chemicals, which is not compatible with most subsequent analysis. Electrical lysis is a rapid, simple, and compatible method to extract intracellular contents. However, very limited studies reported droplet-based electrical lysis. To fill the blank of this topic, we designed a droplet-based device with 3D liquid metal (gallium) electrodes configuration to achieve electrical lysis. This platform has been validated as a robust electrical lysis device with a lysis efficiency of ~ 99 %. The device is further examined for extracting plasmid DNA from E. coli cells. We propose that this system has the potential to be used for rapid cell lysis and extracting intracellular components on chip. In near future, CRISPR-based DNA assays will be performed to show the system can be utilized as a rapid detection device for specific biological application.