Figure 2.

Microcapsule generation, single-cell encapsulation and DNA retention. (A) Cell encapsulation and collection off-chip. A mixture of cells is encapsulated in aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) droplets comprising a liquid core and a liquid shell and collected off-chip in the tube. (B) The liquid shell of collected droplets is converted to a semi-permeable membrane in a two-step process: at first, the liquid shell is gelled by cooling, and then covalently cross-linked by photo-polymerization. (C) The boxplots represent mammalian cell retention in droplets and microcapsules. (D) DNA retention in microcapsules at different temperatures after 30 min incubation. The DNA fragments 100 bp. and smaller freely transverse the microcapsule's membrane, while DNA fragments 300 bp. and longer are fully retained. Solid lines serve only for visual guidance. Scale bars, 100 μm.