Optimal design of a new structure piezo-driven cell injector

Abstract

With the development of micromanipulation technique, the piezo-driven cell injector has been widely applied in cell microinjection. Traditional injection technology used piezo actuator to drive pipettes and a small mercury column was applied in micropipette to diminish the lateral tip oscillations. This injector significantly improves the survival rates of the ICSI process, but large lateral tip oscillations of the micropipette and the toxicity of mercury may damage to the cell membrane with a lower survival rate. Based on the theoretical basis of the previous generation injection structure and conventional injection system, a new design of the piezo-driven microinjector is proposed for microinjection. In this paper, the new structure uses packaged piezo actuator as driving source for connecting more stable and reliable. And it adopts two points flexible way to fix the pipette instead of the way of one point. The design parameters have been optimized for meeting the requirements of small cell injection. It's more simple and easy to use. This paper used simulation software to study the lateral vibration of the new structure, and optimized design size for minimum the lateral oscillation of micropipettes. Harmful lateral tip oscillations of micropipette are reduced substantially during simulation. Finally, we make the new microinjector by 3D printing technology for future experiment. This new structure will reduce the damage to cells in a large extent with a high success rate.