MaGIC-OT: an AI-guided optical tweezers platform for autonomous single-cell isolation in microfluidic devices.

Abstract

Automating the isolation of rare cells such as circulating tumour cells (CTCs) within crowded microfluidic environments remains a bottleneck in liquid biopsy workflows. Optical tweezers offer contact-free, selective manipulation but traditionally rely on expert operators. We present MaGIC-OT (machine-guided isolation of cells using optical tweezers), a platform that integrates classical path planning and deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to automate single-cell manipulation inside a microfluidic chip. We built a high-fidelity simulation to train and benchmark control policies and show that cooperative, human-in-the-loop training improves DRL performance. Trained agents outperform expert users in speed and isolation success <i>in silico</i>, and we demonstrate proof-of-concept isolation of a cancer cell from a spiked blood sample on-chip. MaGIC-OT provides a flexible framework for intelligent optical manipulation, aligning microfluidic device design with autonomous control strategies and offering a pathway toward high-purity, label-free single-cell workflows.