Mechanical and optical design for assembly of vascular endothelial cells using laser guidance and tweezers

Laser is applied to guide and tweeze the vascular endothelial cells for assembly. The system is composed of three modules: laser guidance, micro channels and laser tweezers. The micro channel includes the assembly area, main channel and branch channels. The optical module is equipped with laser source, beam splitter, reflectors and lenses. The endothelial cells are delivered to main channel and guided through branch channel to the assembly area by laser. The optical tweezers then move the cells to the proper position. The design of optical modules is conducted for the maximum capability of manipulating cells. The micro channel is designed based on fluid mechanics to minimize the fluidic disturbance to the cells in the assembly area, and is fabricated by photo lithography. Polystyrene micro beads and endothelial cells are successfully guided and tweezed by this approach. The associated escape velocity and dragging force are investigated.