Micromechanical mass sensors for biomolecular detection in a physiological environment

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2005 Sep;72(3 Pt 1):031907. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.72.031907. Epub 2005 Sep 14.

Abstract

Micromechanical cantilever arrays are used to measure time-resolved adsorption of tiny masses based on protein-ligand interactions. Here, streptavidin-biotin interactions are investigated in a physiological environment. A measurement method is introduced using higher flexural modes of a silicon cantilever in order to enhance the sensitivity of mass detection. Modeling the cantilever vibration in liquid allows the measurement of absolute mass changes. We show time-resolved mass adsorption of final 7+/-0.7 ng biotinylated latex beads. The sensitivity obtained is about 2.5 pg/Hz measuring at a center frequency of 750 kHz.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomechanical Phenomena / instrumentation*
  • Biomechanical Phenomena / methods
  • Biopolymers / analysis*
  • Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods
  • Computer-Aided Design*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Immunoassay / instrumentation*
  • Immunoassay / methods
  • Molecular Weight
  • Protein Interaction Mapping / instrumentation*
  • Protein Interaction Mapping / methods
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Transducers*
  • Vibration

Substances

  • Biopolymers