The Design Of Embedded Solution For A Chip-based Cell-electrofusion Instrument

As an important technology in modern biological research,cell electrofusion is widely used in basic and applied researches such as plant breeding,monoclonal antibody preparation,mammalian cloning,and anti-tumor vaccines.Compared with the rapid development of these applications,the current status of cell fusion devices is particularly lagging behind.Conventional millimeter-scale fusion chambers are difficult to achieve precise control and high-efficiency integration,and the high-voltage is need at the scale,which is difficult for the miniaturization of the device.At the same time,the traditional SCM control program can not provide additional functions such as effective process control and experimental data management.With the development of microfluidic technology and embedded technology,intelligent,low-voltage,low-cost cell electrofusion devices have become possible.The use of microfluidic technology to design and prepare a cell electrofusion device can facilitate experimental observation and reduce sample consumption,thereby effectively reducing the cost of the device.Also,the combination of embedded technology can facilitate the management of experimental data.Based on this,this paper based on our group's previous research of microfluidic-based cell electrofusion chips and cell electrofusion hardware devices,proposed an embedded solution for chip-type cell fusion instrument.By studying the related theories of electrophoretic effect,cell electroporation,and cell buffer impedance during the process of cell electrofusion,and combining with the working mode of the existing cell electrofusion apparatus LF301 and the discrete coplanar microelectrode chip,the design requirements of the system were proposed.The lower computer software design of the cell electrical fusion hardware device is completed,and the Linux+Qt system environment is constructed using the ARMA9 embedded core board,as well as the embedded application software for cell electrofusion is developed through Qt.By doing these,experimental personnel can use the application software to input cell type,electrode type and other relevant information,and then the software can automatically adapt to the required parameters according to the relevant information,and control the lower computer to complete a single step or automatic operation,impedance detection and real-time display of the progress of the operation.Also,SQLite technology was used to establish a database to manage experimental data.In this paper,the integration of hardware and software of the cell electrofusion system was performed,the function of the system was tested,cell buffer impedance characteristics was studied,and cell experiments were performed to verify the effectiveness of the system.The system has some advantages,like satisfying human-computer interaction features,simple operation,small size and low cost.This paper lays the foundation for the development of high-efficiency,automation,and intelligent direction for the cell fusion instrument at some degree.