Microreactors and microdevices for analytical and biosensors applications

It is thought that worldwide more than 10⁹ analyses are now performed every day with a double-digit growth rate. Microreactors and analytical microdevices and biosensors can provide important role on the control of environment, bioprocesses, processed food, biomedical analysis, among others due to rapid analysis and high sensitivity. This work envisages showing the potential of microreactors and biosensors on two mainly applications: i) The development of enzyme-base analytical microreactors for detection of multi-analyte compounds (e.g. sugars, alcohols, aminoacids, organic acids, among others) based on enzyme immobilization carried out on CPG beads integrated in FIA/SIA systems and sol-gel matrix integrated in glass capillary and microchannels. ii) The manipulation of individual microbial cells and single strand DNA molecules with functional paramagnetic nano- and micro-beads and their detection with magneto-resistive sensors demonstrates the applicability of these biosensors for the detection of pathogen microorganisms (e.g. Salmonella) through two different strategies: hybridization of DNA molecules (DNA-chips) and antibody-antigen biorecognition (immuno-chips).