Capillary microfluidics aided single-cell manipulation for optical detection of bacterial pathogens.

The detection of bacterial pathogens at the single-cell level is critical for early diagnosis, understanding microbial behavior, and monitoring treatment efficacy. Capillary microfluidics, with its precise fluid control and ability to manipulate single cells, has emerged as a powerful tool in this field. This review explores recent advancements in capillary microfluidics techniques for single-cell manipulation and their integration with optical detection methods to identify bacterial pathogens. Various microfluidic designs, such as capillary-based traps and sieves that enable the isolation and analysis of individual bacterial cells are presented in the review. Additionally, microfluidic-based single-cell detection techniques and optical detection modalities, such as fluorescence microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, that provide highly sensitive and specific pathogen identification are highlighted. The review also addresses the challenges in scaling up these technologies for clinical applications and offers insights into future trends in capillary microfluidics for pathogen detection. Capillary microfluidics-aided single-cell analysis represents a promising frontier in the rapid, accurate, and low-cost detection of bacterial pathogens, with significant implications for public health and disease management. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12551-025-01363-1.