Efficient intracellular delivery of target macromolecules remains a major obstacle in cell engineering and other biomedical applications. We discovered a unique cell biophysical phenomenon of transient cell volume exchange using microfluidics to rapidly and repeatedly compress cells. This behavior consists of brief, mechanically induced cell volume loss followed by rapid volume recovery. We harness this behavior for high-throughput, convective intracellular delivery of large polysaccharides (2000 kDa), particles (100 nm), and plasmids while maintaining high cell viability. Successful proof of concept experiments in transfection and intracellular labeling demonstrated potential to overcome the most prohibitive challenges in intracellular delivery for cell engineering.

在细胞工程和其他生物医学应用中，目标大分子的有效细胞内递送仍然是主要障碍。我们发现了使用微流体快速且反复地压缩细胞的瞬时细胞体积交换的独特细胞生物物理现象。此行为包括短暂的机械诱导的细胞体积减少，然后迅速恢复体积。我们利用这种行为实现高通量，对流的大多糖（2000 kDa），颗粒（100 nm）和质粒的对流细胞内递送，同时保持高细胞活力。成功的转染和细胞内标记概念验证实验证明，有潜力克服细胞工程中细胞内传递中最令人望而却步的挑战。