Microraft

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Microraft (Isoraft) is a plate made of many tiny wells that trap single cells for sorting, isolating, watching over time, and growing colonies. It’s affordable and offers flexible cell‑culture surfaces with built‑in, easy cell separation.

Each microraft has a base of detachable concave wells made by dipping a flexible PDMS mold into a substrate. This process gives the raft low autofluorescence, helping with fluorescence-based cell identification. Cells placed on the plate settle into the centers of the wells because of the concave shape.

To move a single microraft, a needle is inserted through the thin, compliant polymer substrate; the hard polymer material protects the cells from damage. Analysis and isolation can be done using a standard inverted microscope. The released cells or microrafts can be collected, cultured, and expanded into clones. This system achieves very high single‑cell cloning rates (over 95%) and works for both adherent and non‑adherent cell types.