Abstract: Microfluidic systems have proven to be fundamental in extending our studies and understanding to the resolution of a single cell by providing endless methods for particle manipulation and exquisite control in microenvironment design. Opto-electronic tweezers (OFT) is one such unparalleled technology that offers contact-free cell handling, automatic sorting, and individual selection out of a large population for cells suspended in fluids. Since much of cell culture is based on surface-adherent cells, OET capabilities were explored for the study of adherent cells and the cell environment, direct OET force available, and mechanical stimulation schemes for individual cells were characterized. OET was limited in sustaining cell culture of surface adherent cells and as a means in which to apply direct stimulation force however a combination of the OET virtual electrode with other passive elements proved to fulfill integrated processing of cell selection and lysing on a single platform without additional power requirements. An optical surface-based biosensor was another passive element developed for biochemical analysis that can be patterned on any oxide substrate for the detection of dilute protein concentrations. With pM detection sensitivity, the optically based immunosensing technique was validated in biological fluid by detecting an oral cancer biomarker protein in saliva for a clinical diagnosis application. These two studies provide critical functions to an intelligent cell platform that illustrate the ultimate technical integration. In this system continuous cell culture and monitoring is possible to support novel approaches to probe complex and multi-parametric problems in biology.