Fig. 1: Simplified platelet contraction cytometer enables any lab to perform high-throughput measurements of single-cell forces toward clinical translation.

a Our cellular contraction cytometer has been simplified to comprise a microscope coverslip functionalized with a polyacrylamide hydrogel micropatterned with fluorescent extracellular matrix proteins. b Individual platelets adhere, spread, and contract against the micropatterned fibrinogen microdot pairs on the hydrogel. The microdots act akin to a spring, which enables straightforward calculations of platelet contractile force at the single cell level using measurements of the microdot size and spacing. c This micropatterned coverslip is adaptable for use with any fluorescence microscope. d The large array of fibrinogen microdot pairs enables the collection of numerous images and, therefore, allows measurements of platelet contraction forces to be captured. Scale bar is 50 μm. e The histogram is representative of a healthy adult, with a distribution of low, moderate, and highly contractile platelets. Scale bar denotes 4 μm. f Our micropatterned hydrogel-laden microscope coverslip-based cellular contraction cytometry technology allows for platelet contraction cytometers to be produced at a rate of 3.33 devices/h, a stark improvement from our original microfluidic system²⁴, which had a production rate of 0.2 devices/h. The microscope image in e is representative of at least 20 images collected for each of the 53 patient samples and 30 healthy donors, and the histogram in f is representative of 30 histograms collected for healthy donors.