Paper-Based Microfluidic Continuous-Flow Electroporation (μCEP) for Bacterial Transformation through Pore-Scale Electric-Field Enhancement
- 1University of California, Berkeley
Abstract
Electroporation (EP) is an established method for introducing biomolecules such as DNA into bacterial cells. Commercially available cuvette-based EP systems are expensive to use and limited to small sample volumes making them impractical for high-throughput applications. Furthermore, high electric fields are required in these systems which can promote electrolysis and Joule heating, thereby reducing cell viability. Herein, we report a scalable, low-cost technique called Microfluidic Continuous-Flow Electroporation in Paper (CEP) which takes advantage of the insulating nature of glass fiber paper and its micron-sized pores to amplify the electric field strength experienced by cells. The CEP device is fabricated by sealing glass fibers between PDMS membranes using a combination of corona plasma treatment and heat-pressing. Our results demonstrate that the CEP technique enables transformation of E. coli at lower applied electric field strengths with transformation efficiencies comparable to or higher than those of cuvette-based EP under the tested conditions. The continuous-flow format and lower required applied field provides a low-cost approach to bacterial electroporation while maintaining cell viability comparable to that of conventional cuvette-based EP.
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BibTeX
@misc{jaiswal2026paperbased,
title = {{Paper-Based Microfluidic Continuous-Flow Electroporation (μCEP) for Bacterial Transformation through Pore-Scale Electric-Field Enhancement}},
author = {B. Jaiswal and M. N. Islam and Z. Gagnon},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.19.760286},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.760286v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Paper-Based Microfluidic Continuous-Flow Electroporation (μCEP) for Bacterial Transformation through Pore-Scale Electric-Field Enhancement
AU - B. Jaiswal
AU - M. N. Islam
AU - Z. Gagnon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.19.760286
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.760286v1
AB - Electroporation (EP) is an established method for introducing biomolecules such as DNA into bacterial cells. Commercially available cuvette-based EP systems are expensive to use and limited to small sample volumes making them impractical for high-throughput applications. Furthermore, high electric fields are required in these systems which can promote electrolysis and Joule heating, thereby reducing cell viability. Herein, we report a scalable, low-cost technique called Microfluidic Continuous-Flow Electroporation in Paper (CEP) which takes advantage of the insulating nature of glass fiber paper and its micron-sized pores to amplify the electric field strength experienced by cells. The CEP device is fabricated by sealing glass fibers between PDMS membranes using a combination of corona plasma treatment and heat-pressing. Our results demonstrate that the CEP technique enables transformation of E. coli at lower applied electric field strengths with transformation efficiencies comparable to or higher than those of cuvette-based EP under the tested conditions. The continuous-flow format and lower required applied field provides a low-cost approach to bacterial electroporation while maintaining cell viability comparable to that of conventional cuvette-based EP.
ER -