Cost-efficient boundary-free surface patterning achieves high effective-throughput of time-lapse microscopy experiments

Time-lapse microscopy plays critical roles in the studies of cellular dynamics. However, to set up a time-lapse movie experiments is not only laborious but also with low output, mainly due to the cell-losing problem (i.e., cell moving out of limited field of view), especially in a long time recording. To overcome these issues, we have designed a cost-efficient way that enables cell patterning on the imaging surfaces without any physical boundaries. Using mouse embryonic stem cells as an example system, we have demonstrated that our boundary-free patterned surface solves the cell-losing problem without disturbing their cellular phenotype. Statistically, the presented system increases the effective-throughput of time-lapse microscopy experiments by order of magnitude.