Application of cantilever-based microbiosensors in microbiology

This paper presents applications of cantilever-based microbiosensors in microbiology and other biological fields. These devices can be employed in a wide range of experiments due to their high sensitivity and capability of performing label-free and real-time measurements. Cantilever-based microbiosensors are employed in a variety of measurements, such as single cell mass, concentration of specific substances, their density and viscosity, fluid flow velocity, heat of reaction or detection of trace amounts of specified substances. All these applications ares possible, because cantilever surface can be specifically functionalized. In the last few years, the cantilever-based microbiosensors have been significantly improved to obtain even higher precision of measurement which allows for their new, unique applications with live biological system

Precise mass determination of single cell with cantilever-based microbiosensor system

Having determined the mass of a single cell of brewer yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by means of a microcantilever-based biosensor Cantisens CSR-801 (Concentris, Basel, Switzerland), it was found that its dry mass is 47,65 $\pm$ 1,05 pg. Found to be crucial in this mass determination was the cell position along the length of the cantilever. Moreover, calculations including cells positions on the cantilever provide a threefold better degree of accuracy than those which assume uniform mass distribution. We have also examined the influence of storage time on the single cell mass. Our results show that after 6 months there is an increase in the average mass of a single yeast cell

micromachined flow sensors in biomedical applications

Application fields of micromachined devices are growing very rapidly due to the continuous improvement of three dimensional technologies of micro-fabrication. In particular, applications of micromachined sensors to monitor gas and liquid flows hold immense potential because of their valuable characteristics (e.g., low energy consumption, relatively good accuracy, the ability to measure very small flow, and small size). Moreover, the feedback provided by integrating microflow sensors to micro mass flow controllers is essential to deliver accurately set target small flows. This paper is a review of some application areas in the biomedical field of micromachined flow sensors, such as blood flow, respiratory monitoring, and drug delivery among others. Particular attention is dedicated to the description of the measurement principles utilized in early and current research. Finally, some observations about characteristics and issues of these devices are also reported