Microsphere-in-Water-in-Oil Microfluidic Droplets Enable Ultra-High-Throughput Surface-Adherent Microbial Growth, Analysis, and Sorting

Biofilms exhibit emergent behaviors absent in free-floating cells, yet research has largely been limited to a few model systems. To break this bottleneck, we’ve engineered an ultrahigh-throughput method that grows surface-associated microbes on polystyrene microspheres inside tiny water-in-oil droplets. Coupled with a robust retrieval pipeline for culture and molecular assays, and validated using a fluorescent environmental isolate of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, this platform integrates seamlessly with droplet-sorting tools to rapidly screen biofilm phenotypes. This breakthrough opens the door to exploring mixed-species biofilms at unprecedented speed and scale, accelerating discovery in medicine, ecology, and biotechnology.

Speaker:
Jessica Li, Department of Chemical Engineering, the University of Michigan (the USA)

Why this webinar is a must-attend:

• Biofilms are everywhere —especially in drinking water systems, where they impact public health and disinfection efficacy. — yet many natural biofilm communities remain poorly understood.
• Our new method uses nanoliter-scale water-in-oil droplet encapsulation: embed polystyrene microspheres, culture surface-associated cells, and enable >100,000 droplets per run for ultra-high-throughput screening. We’ve built a full pipeline: from droplet-based culture to retrieval of microspheres and associated cells, enabling both culture-based and molecular assays.
•  In testing, we benchmarked the pipeline with an environmental isolate (mCherry-labeled Stenotrophomonas maltophilia) and an uncharacterized drinking water isolate, demonstrating 90% growth recovery in sorted droplets using the On-Chip Droplet Selector.

This approach opens the door for rapid, large-scale screening of mixed-species biofilms — paving the way for discoveries in environmental microbiology, medical biofilms, biofouling, and more.

What you’ll get out of the webinar:

• A clear walk-through of the droplet encapsulation technique and explanation of why it matters.
• Insights into the design and execution of the full pipeline (culture → retrieval → downstream assays).
• Discussion of future applications: how this can accelerate biofilm research beyond model systems.
• An opportunity to ask questions and engage with the researchers behind the method.

Don’t miss the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge and connect with fellow researchers at the forefront of microbial biofilms!

If you are interested, sign up here!