Hemisherical perforated microwells for long-term analysis of single microalgae cells

We propose a hemispherical perforated microwell structure which has a large hole on the top and a small hole at the bottom. Our unique microwell array design enables us to capture single cells by hydrodynamic force with ease and high efficiency. In addition, the hemispherical shape serves as a culture chamber, so the single cell based colony generation could be conducted. The perforated microwell structure also allowed us to perform the retrieval of the produced colony by applying a backpressure from the bottom. Thus, our methodology can replace the whole process of an agar plate in a solution phase. We used two types of C. reinhardtii to demonstrate our rationale of high throughput screening of genetically modified C. reinhardtii with high rapidity, accuracy and reliability.