FIG. 1.

The pump-on-chip cell disruption microfluidic chip. (a) Schematic of the chip, (b) photograph of the fabricated cell disruption microfluidic chip, and (c) schematic of the platform including the on-chip micropump, electromagnets, and microfluidic chip. This platform performs effective mechanical cell disruption with several reasons: (d) cells in the sample leaking through the gap between the channel corners and the PDMS membrane will be pulverized by the steel balls, (e) the compressive stress makes cells deform and bulges form on the cell membrane followed by cell bursting, and (f) some cells will be crushed down by the steel balls dropping down from the step.