The Mother Machine is a microfluidic device used in single cell studies, particularly in microbiology to observe the growth, division and dynamics of individual cells under precisely controlled conditions over extended periods of time. It is a widely used tool for studying the behavior and lifecycle of cells in a highly controlled microenvironment.
The classical mother machine consists of an array of narrow, dead-end channels (typically around 1 μm in width, the size of a single bacterium) connected to a wider flow channel. Cells are loaded into these narrow channels, with one cell (the "mother cell") at the closed end. Nutrient-rich media continuously flow through the wider channel, diffusing into the narrow channels to feed the cells.

You can read more about the Mother Machine concept and how to use it on the homepage of its inventor, prof. Suckjoon Jun.

For the past 12 years, ConScience has excelled in the production of Mother Machine molds for numerous research groups at universities such as Uppsala University, Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, UC San Diego and many more.

We offer an accuracy of less than 30 nm for channel sizes, as well as the possibility of multiple channel sizes with square cross-section on one and the same mold - opening up unexplored possibilities for mother machine.

We provide tight tolerances including sub-100 nm features and sub-100 nm overlay precision of different layers. Additionally, we can process several overlayed layers.

Our team custom made a mold for prof. Jun’s group (the original inventor of the Mother Machine concept), which was lower cost and better performance than their original fabrication flow. They were very happy with what we provided to them and have been a repeat customer ever since. In a tweet, Suckjoon Jun made the following statement:

“We endorse them. We designed & ordered multiplex mothermachine from them about a year ago. They delivered an excellent product. The price was reasonable, certainly far less than what it cost us back in 2008 at Harvard for the first mothermachine. We will use them again.”

Examples from literature of use of ConScience fabricated Mother Machine devices:

Jones, D. et al. Kinetics Of dCas9 Target Search In Escherichia Coli. Science 2017, 357, 1420-1424.

Hammar, P. et al. Direct Measurement Of Transcription Factor Dissociation Excludes A Simple Operator Occupancy Model For Gene Regulation. Nature Genetics 2014, 46, 405-408.

Kipper, K. et al. Application Of Noncanonical Amino Acids For Protein Labeling In A Genomically Recoded Escherichia Coli. ACS Synthetic Biology 2016, 6, 233-255.

We offer both ready to use microfluidics devices and molds that allow you to replicate thousands of devices in your own lab.

Con-Science offers a broad range of nanofabrication services. Most of our products are developed specifically for our clients. Here in our web-shop we have collected examples of some of our more standard products.

For a free inquiry related to any of our services or products, please contact us by email or telephone.

T: +46 (0)738 92 08 67
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