Abstract

Microdroplets are typically 20-100 micron water droplets carried through a microfluidic device in an oil stream. We can encapsulate and isolate a single microalgal cell in a microdroplet, and monitor its growth within the droplet over several days. This provides a new platform for studying the behaviour and interactions of algae at an individual-cell level. Microdroplet technology can be used either to confirm information previously established using traditional techniques, or to tackle some of the questions that so far cannot be answered in bulk culture.

In my talk, I will discuss in-droplet growth results for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and ways in which I am improving the established experimental set-up to allow more efficient data collection. I will also describe new applications of the microdroplet platform – studying cell interactions during algal-bacterial symbiosis and Fluorescence Activated Droplet Sorting.