A close-up look at a tiny, yet powerful, chip

This past October, we announced that Paul Blainey, an expert in single-molecule and single-cell approaches, would be joining the Broad as a core faculty member in early 2012. He will join us after completing postdoctoral research at Stanford University in the laboratory of Stephen Quake, where he has pioneered novel methods to perform single-cell microbial sequencing. As part of this work, he designed a 3.5-cm microfluidic chip that sorts single cells and amplifies their genomes to prepare for sequencing. The chip features an intricate pattern of miniscule channels for sorting and amplification, and laser tweezers are used to shuttle cells to their destination in the reaction chambers.

For a closer look at the device and to see the chip's microfabricated valves in action, check out this video.