A modular single-cell pipette microfluidic chip coupling to ETAAS and ICP-MS for single cell analysis

Accurate single-cell capture is a crucial step for single cell biological and chemical analysis. Conventional single-cell capturing often confront operational complexity, limited efficiency, cell damage, large scale but low accuracy, incompetence in the acquirement of nano-upgraded single-cell liquid. Flow cytometry has been widely used in large-scale single-cell detection, while precise single-cell isolation relies on both a precision operating platform and a microscope, which is not only extremely inefficient, but also not conducive to couple with modern analytical instruments. Herein, we develop a modular single-cell pipette (mSCP) microfluidic chip with high efficiency and strong applicability for accurate direct capture of single viable cell from cell suspensions into nanoliter droplets (30?1000 nL). The mSCP is used as a sampling platform for the detection of CdTe quantum dots in single cells with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) for the first time. It also ensures precise single-cell sampling and detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).