Rajorshi Paul

All Publications

• Hydrodynamic dissection of Stentor coeruleus in a microfluidic cross junction. Lab on a chip Paul, R., Zhang, K. S., Kurosu Jalil, M., Castano, N., Kim, S., Tang, S. K. 2022

  Abstract

  Stentor coeruleus, a single-cell ciliated protozoan, is a model organism for wound healing and regeneration studies. Despite Stentor's large size (up to 2 mm in extended state), microdissection of Stentor remains challenging. In this work, we describe a hydrodynamic cell splitter, consisting of a microfluidic cross junction, capable of splitting Stentor cells in a non-contact manner at a high throughput of 500 cells per minute under continuous operation. Introduction of asymmetry in the flow field at the cross junction leads to asymmetric splitting of the cells to generate cell fragments as small as 8.5 times the original cell size. Characterization of cell fragment viability shows reduced 5-day survival as fragment size decreases and as the extent of hydrodynamic stress imposed on the fragments increases. Our results suggest that cell fragment size and composition, as well as mechanical stress, play important roles in the long-term repair of Stentor cells and warrant further investigations. Nevertheless, the hydrodynamic splitter can be useful for studying phenomena immediately after cell splitting, such as the closure of wounds in the plasma membrane which occurs on the order of 100-1000 seconds in Stentor.

  View details for DOI 10.1039/d2lc00527a

  View details for PubMedID 35971861

• Microfluidic Surgery in Single Cells and Multicellular Systems. Chemical reviews Zhang, K. S., Nadkarni, A. V., Paul, R., Martin, A. M., Tang, S. K. 1800

  Abstract

  Microscale surgery on single cells and small organisms has enabled major advances in fundamental biology and in engineering biological systems. Examples of applications range from wound healing and regeneration studies to the generation of hybridoma to produce monoclonal antibodies. Even today, these surgical operations are often performed manually, but they are labor intensive and lack reproducibility. Microfluidics has emerged as a powerful technology to control and manipulate cells and multicellular systems at the micro- and nanoscale with high precision. Here, we review the physical and chemical mechanisms of microscale surgery and the corresponding design principles, applications, and implementations in microfluidic systems. We consider four types of surgical operations: (1) sectioning, which splits a biological entity into multiple parts, (2) ablation, which destroys part of an entity, (3) biopsy, which extracts materials from within a living cell, and (4) fusion, which joins multiple entities into one. For each type of surgery, we summarize the motivating applications and the microfluidic devices developed. Throughout this review, we highlight existing challenges and opportunities. We hope that this review will inspire scientists and engineers to continue to explore and improve microfluidic surgical methods.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00616

  View details for PubMedID 35049287

• Fomite Transmission, Physicochemical Origin of Virus-Surface Interactions, and Disinfection Strategies for Enveloped Viruses with Applications to SARS-CoV-2. ACS omega Castano, N., Cordts, S. C., Kurosu Jalil, M., Zhang, K. S., Koppaka, S., Bick, A. D., Paul, R., Tang, S. K. 2021; 6 (10): 6509–27

  Abstract

  Inanimate objects or surfaces contaminated with infectious agents, referred to as fomites, play an important role in the spread of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The long persistence of viruses (hours to days) on surfaces calls for an urgent need for effective surface disinfection strategies to intercept virus transmission and the spread of diseases. Elucidating the physicochemical processes and surface science underlying the adsorption and transfer of virus between surfaces, as well as their inactivation, is important for understanding how diseases are transmitted and for developing effective intervention strategies. This review summarizes the current knowledge and underlying physicochemical processes of virus transmission, in particular via fomites, and common disinfection approaches. Gaps in knowledge and the areas in need of further research are also identified. The review focuses on SARS-CoV-2, but discussion of related viruses is included to provide a more comprehensive review given that much remains unknown about SARS-CoV-2. Our aim is that this review will provide a broad survey of the issues involved in fomite transmission and intervention to a wide range of readers to better enable them to take on the open research challenges.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acsomega.0c06335

  View details for PubMedID 33748563

• Electrokinetics of non-Newtonian fluids in poly-electrolyte grafted nanochannels: Effects of ion-partitioning and confinement JOURNAL OF NON-NEWTONIAN FLUID MECHANICS Paul, R., Maity, D., Agrawal, P., Bandopadhyay, A., Chakraborty, S. 2020; 283

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jnnfm.2020.104348

  View details for Web of Science ID 000566820500006

• Reply to the comment on "Rivalry in Bacillus subtilis colonies: enemy or family?" Soft matter Paul, R., Ghosh, T., Tang, T., Kumar, A. 2020

  View details for DOI 10.1039/d0sm00034e

  View details for PubMedID 32207512

• Rivalry in Bacillus subtilis colonies: enemy or family? Soft matter Paul, R., Ghosh, T., Tang, T., Kumar, A. 2019; 15 (27): 5400-5411

  Abstract

  Two colonies of Bacillus subtilis of identical strains growing adjacent to each other on an agar plate exhibit two distinct types of interactions: they either merge as they grow or demarcation occurs leading to formation of a line of demarcation at the colony fronts. The nature of this interaction depends on the agar concentration in the growth medium and the initial separation between the colonies. When the agar concentration was 0.67% or lower, the two sibling colonies were found to always merge. At 1% or higher concentrations, the colonies formed a demarcation line only when their initial separation was 20 mm or higher. Interactions of a colony with solid structures and liquid drops have indicated that biochemical factors rather than the presence of physical obstacles are responsible for the demarcation line formation. A reaction diffusion model has been formulated to predict if two sibling colonies will form a demarcation line under given agar concentration and initial separation. The model prediction agrees well with experimental findings and generates a dimensionless phase diagram containing merging and demarcation regimes. The phase diagram is in terms of a dimensionless initial separation, d[combining macron], and a dimensionless diffusion coefficient, D[combining macron], of the colonies. The phase boundary between the two interaction regimes can be described by a power law relation between d[combining macron] and D[combining macron].

  View details for DOI 10.1039/c9sm00794f

  View details for PubMedID 31172158

• An Experimental Study of the Electrohydrodynamic Characteristics of Sedimenting Drops Under Uniform Alternating Electric Fields Paul, R., Kumar, G., Mandal, S., Kishore, N. K., Pramanik, S., Chakraborty, S. IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC. 2017: 5838–44

  View details for DOI 10.1109/TIA.2017.2720140

  View details for Web of Science ID 000416214600072