This illsutrations features microscale electroporation, a versatile technique used to accurately transport various biomaterials in and out of the cell. This cover visually describes static and continuous microfluidic devices to electroporate cells for clinical and research applications.

Purpose
This image was created to summarize the recent research of Drs. Sung-Eun Choi, Harrison Khoo and Soojung Claire Hur in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. The intended audience is basic science researchers, including cell biologists, biochemists, biomedical engineers, and molecular biologists. This piece illustrates the feature article, summarizing electroporation (EP), a commonly used technique to increase cell permeability for reversible intracellular cargo delivery or irreversible cell membrane disruption. Depicted are examples of how EP performance has been improved in recent years by shrinking electrodes and device structures to the microscale. Integration with microfluidics has led to the design of devices performing static EP, where cells are fixed in a defined region (as seen by the plate on the right), or continuous EP, where cells are constantly flowing through the device (as seen by the plate on the left). Each device type offers abilities superior to conventional, macroscale EP devices while providing additional advantageous in precision treatments (static EP) and increased throughput (continuous EP).

Technique
ZBrush, PDB data, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop