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Zaferani M, Song R, Petry S, Stone HA. Building on-chip cytoskeletal circuits via branched microtubule networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2315992121. [PMID: 38232292 PMCID: PMC10823238 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2315992121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Controllable platforms to engineer robust cytoskeletal scaffolds have the potential to create novel on-chip nanotechnologies. Inspired by axons, we combined the branching microtubule (MT) nucleation pathway with microfabrication to develop "cytoskeletal circuits." This active matter platform allows control over the adaptive self-organization of uniformly polarized MT arrays via geometric features of microstructures designed within a microfluidic confinement. We build and characterize basic elements, including turns and divisions, as well as complex regulatory elements, such as biased division and MT diodes, to construct various MT architectures on a chip. Our platform could be used in diverse applications, ranging from efficient on-chip molecular transport to mechanical nano-actuators. Further, cytoskeletal circuits can serve as a tool to study how the physical environment contributes to MT architecture in living cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meisam Zaferani
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
- Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
| | - Ryungeun Song
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
| | - Sabine Petry
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
| | - Howard A. Stone
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ08544
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Zaferani M, Abbaspourrad A. Biphasic Chemokinesis of Mammalian Sperm. Phys Rev Lett 2023; 130:248401. [PMID: 37390449 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.130.248401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023]
Abstract
The female reproductive tract (FRT) continuously modulates mammalian sperm motion by releasing various clues as sperm migrate toward the fertilization site. An existing gap in our understanding of sperm migration within the FRT is a quantitative picture of how sperm respond to and navigate the biochemical clues within the FRT. In this experimental study, we have found that in response to biochemical clues, mammalian sperm display two distinct chemokinetic behaviors which are dependent upon the rheological properties of the media: chiral, characterized by swimming in circles; and hyperactive, characterized by random reorientation events. We used minimal theoretical modeling, along with statistical characterization of the chiral and hyperactive trajectories, to show that the effective diffusivity of these motion phases decreases with increasing concentration of chemical stimulant. In the context of navigation this concentration dependent chemokinesis suggests that the chiral or hyperactive motion refines the sperm search area within different FRT functional regions. Further, the ability to switch between phases indicates that sperm may use various stochastic navigational strategies, such as run and tumble or intermittent search, within the fluctuating and spatially heterogeneous environment of the FRT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meisam Zaferani
- Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca 14850, New York, USA
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Abbaspourrad A, Zaferani M. Search and response mechanisms in active soft matter. Biophys J 2023; 122:531a. [PMID: 36784753 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.11.2818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/12/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Meisam Zaferani
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Zaferani M, Javi F, Mokhtare A, Li P, Abbaspourrad A. Rolling controls sperm navigation in response to the dynamic rheological properties of the environment. eLife 2021; 10:68693. [PMID: 34346314 PMCID: PMC8387022 DOI: 10.7554/elife.68693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Mammalian sperm rolling around their longitudinal axes is a long-observed component of motility, but its function in the fertilization process, and more specifically in sperm migration within the female reproductive tract, remains elusive. While investigating bovine sperm motion under simple shear flow and in a quiescent microfluidic reservoir and developing theoretical and computational models, we found that rolling regulates sperm navigation in response to the rheological properties of the sperm environment. In other words, rolling enables a sperm to swim progressively even if the flagellum beats asymmetrically. Therefore, a rolling sperm swims stably along the nearby walls (wall-dependent navigation) and efficiently upstream under an external fluid flow (rheotaxis). By contrast, an increase in ambient viscosity and viscoelasticity suppresses rolling, consequently, non-rolling sperm are less susceptible to nearby walls and external fluid flow and swim in two-dimensional diffusive circular paths (surface exploration). This surface exploration mode of swimming is caused by the intrinsic asymmetry in flagellar beating such that the curvature of a sperm's circular path is proportional to the level of asymmetry. We found that the suppression of rolling is reversible and occurs in sperm with lower asymmetry in their beating pattern at higher ambient viscosity and viscoelasticity. Consequently, the rolling component of motility may function as a regulatory tool allowing sperm to navigate according to the rheological properties of the functional region within the female reproductive tract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meisam Zaferani
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
| | - Farhad Javi
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
| | - Amir Mokhtare
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
| | - Peilong Li
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
| | - Alireza Abbaspourrad
- Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
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Azizi M, Zaferani M, Cheong SH, Abbaspourrad A. Pathogenic Bacteria Detection Using RNA-Based Loop-Mediated Isothermal-Amplification-Assisted Nucleic Acid Amplification via Droplet Microfluidics. ACS Sens 2019; 4:841-848. [PMID: 30908029 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.8b01206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Nucleic acid amplifications, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), are very beneficial for diagnostic applications, especially in the context of bacterial or viral outbreaks due to their high specificity and sensitivity. However, the need for bulky instrumentation and complicated protocols makes these methods expensive and slow, particularly for low numbers of RNA or DNA templates. In addition, implementing conventional nucleic acid amplification in a high-throughput manner is both reagent- and time-consuming. We bring droplet-based microfluidics and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) together in an optimized operational condition to provide a sensitive biosensor for amplifying extracted RNA templates for the detection of Salmonella typhimurium (targeting the invA gene). By simultaneously performing ∼106 LAMP-assisted amplification reactions in picoliter-sized droplets and applying a new mathematical model for the number of droplets necessary to screen for the first positive droplet, we study the detection limit of our platform with pure culture and real samples (bacterial contaminated milk samples). Our LAMP-assisted droplet-based microfluidic technique was simple in operation, sensitive, specific, and rapid for the detection of pathogenic bacteria Salmonella typhimurium in comparison with well-established conventional methods. More importantly, the high-throughput nature of this technique makes it suitable for many applications in biological assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morteza Azizi
- Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Meisam Zaferani
- Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Soon Hon Cheong
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Alireza Abbaspourrad
- Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
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Zaferani M, Palermo GD, Abbaspourrad A. Strictures of a microchannel impose fierce competition to select for highly motile sperm. Sci Adv 2019; 5:eaav2111. [PMID: 30788436 PMCID: PMC6374105 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav2111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2018] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Investigating sperm locomotion in the presence of external fluid flow and geometries simulating the female reproductive tract can lead to a better understanding of sperm motion during fertilization. Using a microfluidic device featuring a stricture that simulates the fluid mechanical properties of narrow junctions inside the female reproductive tract, we documented the gate-like role played by the stricture in preventing sperm with motilities below a certain threshold from advancing through the stricture to the other side (i.e., fertilization site). All the slower sperm accumulate below (i.e., in front of) the stricture and swim in a butterfly-shaped path between the channel walls, thus maintaining the potential for penetrating the stricture and ultimately advancing toward the fertilization site. Accumulation below the stricture occurs in a hierarchical manner so that dense concentrations of sperm with higher velocities remain closer to the stricture, with more sparsely distributed arrays of lower-velocity sperm lagging behind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meisam Zaferani
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Gianpiero D. Palermo
- The Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA
| | - Alireza Abbaspourrad
- Department of Food Science and Technology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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Bülbül G, Celli GB, Zaferani M, Raghupathi K, Galopin C, Abbaspourrad A. Quantitative comparison of adsorption and desorption of commonly used sweeteners in the oral cavity. Food Chem 2019; 271:577-580. [PMID: 30236718 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.07.221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2018] [Revised: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Adsorption-desorption properties of different sweeteners in the oral cavity were evaluated using high performance liquid chromatography-based methodology. Three low calorie artificial sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame potassium and sucralose), one steviol glycoside (rebaudioside A), and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) were examined and compared with sucrose at pH 3 and 7 in a model beverage matrix. Results indicated that HFCS had the highest adsorption in the oral cavity, followed by rebaudioside A and the artificial sweeteners. The physicochemical interaction between sweeteners and salivary proteins did not affect the adsorption properties significantly as validated from a series of characterization techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gonca Bülbül
- Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Giovana B Celli
- Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Meisam Zaferani
- Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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Azizi M, Zaferani M, Dogan B, Zhang S, Simpson KW, Abbaspourrad A. Nanoliter-Sized Microchamber/Microarray Microfluidic Platform for Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing. Anal Chem 2018; 90:14137-14144. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b03817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Morteza Azizi
- Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Meisam Zaferani
- Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Belgin Dogan
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Shiying Zhang
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Kenneth W. Simpson
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Alireza Abbaspourrad
- Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
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