Interfacing micro/nanotechnology with life-sciences for detection of cells and microorganisms

This paper reviews the interdisciplinary work performed in our group in recent years to develop microintegrated devices to characterize biological entities. We present the use of electrical and mechanically based phenomena to perform characterization and various functions needed for integrated biochips. One system takes advantage of the dielectrophoretic effect to sort and concentrate cells within a micro-fluidic biochip. Another sub-system measures impedance changes produced by the metabolic activity of cells to determine their viability. A third device is used to detect the mass of bacteria as they bind to micro-mechanical silicon cantilevers. These devices with an electronic signal output can be very useful in producing practical systems for rapid detection and characterization of cells for a wide variety of applications in the food safety and health diagnostics industries.