Motion control of motile cells using galvanotaxis

Abstract

We develop a system for control of a motile cell using an applied electric field exploiting the galvanotaxis of Paramecium sp. Although the galvanotaxis of Paramecium is well studied, a large-scale microsystem that can produce arbitrary patterns has not yet been achieved. Here, we characterize the response of the cells to different voltage levels. We also present a method to trap and control Paramecium cells. For a two dimensional change in polarity of the electric field, as provided by a programmable microcontroller with varying switching frequency, the cells were forced to follow a closed loop within the field of view. The size of the loop can be controlled by changing the switching frequency. The programmable controller developed in this study may be utilized in the future to generate on-demand patterns.