Cell migration driven self-assembly of microstructure and its application for intracellular nano interface

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We demonstrated the insertion of an intracellular nanoneedle into a single living cell which was caused by a cell-driven force. The cell-driven assembly of bio-hybrid micro and nanocomponents offers a potential route in nano-bioengineering research on new fabrication tools of bio-micro electro-mechanical systems (bio-MEMS) without direct mechanical manipulation. We describe the cell-driven self-insertion of a single conductive tungsten nanoneedle of 190nm diameter. A single nanoneedle was fabricated on the bottom of each 15μm wide glass microwell. A myoblast C2C12 cell migrated into a microwell; within 3hours, the insertion of a nanoneedle into the cell was observed using a three-dimensional laser scanning confocal microscope. Observation of fluorescence labeled viable cells indicated that no dead cells were present in the microwells during the nanoneedle insertion process. The intracellular nanoneedles were broken after a maximum of 2days.