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Abstract
A circadian rhythm is our body’s “internal clock” that influences when we sleep, wake up and eat. It can be influenced by external factors such as temperature and sunlight. Our body clock is in charge of synchronizing our circadian rhythms throughout our body. When our circadian rhythms malfunctions, our bodies are susceptible to mental disorders, obesity as well as other illness, such as metabolic syndrome. Hence, more research needs to be done. Neurospora crassa (N. crassa), a model fungal organism provides us with an unprecedented window into the investigation of clocks in higher organisms. The aim of this thesis is to address two questions, (1) how do the clocks in single cells of Neurospora Crassa communicate; (2) identifying the mechanism of synchronization in N.crassa single cells. To address this questions, microfluidic platforms were fabricated. Our hypothesis is that single cells are able to communicate through the mechanism of quorum sensing. Here we will be introducing several microfluidic platforms to carry out single-cell measurements to test the hypothesis of quorum sensing. This first microfluidic platform confirms the existence of biological clocks in N.crassa cells. Next, a “big chamber” microfluidic device successfully seeding more than 150,000 cells to obtain a macroscopic limit of synchronization of cells was introduced. Once a macroscopic limit was established, a refined limit for synchronization was established with a microwell microfluidic device. To date, minimal microfluidic devices have been established for the long-term tracking of filamentous fungi at single nucleus regulation. Hence, this thesis also presents a serpentine channel microfluidic device with the capability of tracking around 95 filaments in parallel growth, the dominant life stage of the organism.