BioPen® Nanoparticle Delivery

The BioPen® System

The BioPen system is a powerful tool for delivering nanoparticles to individual cells to study their interaction in real-time in the cell’s native environment. With BioPen, you can precisely control when, where and what amount of particles you want to deliver to the cells of interest.

Interaction between cells and nanoparticles play an important role in multiple biological and pharmacological processes, including:

• Viral infection
• Nanoparticle drug delivery
• Exosome biology
• Endocytosis

The BioPen system lets you study these process directly on a single-cell level using very small amounts of expensive or scarce sample solutions. Contact us to find out how BioPen can benefit you in your research.

Single-cell Nanoparticle Delivery

The sequence of images to the right demonstrate delivery of Qtracker nanoparticles to two HaCaT cells grouped together. Panel A shows the flow from BioPen highlighted in blue using a fluorescein solution, creating an exposure zone covering the two cells. The recirculation flow of the BioPen ensures that compound is only delivered within the flow zone, without contaminating the surrounding solution. The delivery and recirculation channels are visible in the righthand part of the image.

Panel B shows the fluorescent Qtracker nanoparticles delivered in the exposure zone specifically binding to the surface of the two cells. As more nanoparticles are added to the solution, they accumulate on the two exposed cells. Panel C shows the distribution of nanoparticles as they penetrate the plasma membrane and aggregate inside the cells.

Panel D shows an overlay between bright field and fluorescence images, demonstrating spatial overlap between cells and the delivered nanoparticles. Scale bar = 50 µm.