BioMEMS and bionanotechnology and applications to biological sensing

Biomedical or Biological Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (BioMEMS) and Bionanotechnology has found widespread use in a wide variety of applications in diagnostics, sensing, and characterization of biological entities. This paper reviews some of the interdisciplinary work performed in our group in the recent years to develop micro-integrated devices to characterize biological entities. We have used electrical based phenomena to perform characterization and various functions needed for integrated biochips. One sub-system takes advantage of the dielectrophoretic effect to sort and concentrate bacterial cells and viruses within a micro-fluidic biochip. Another sub-system measures impedance changes produced by the metabolic activity of bacterial cells to determine their viability. The last sub-system described has been used to detect the charge on DNA molecules as it translocates through nanopore channels. These devices with an electronic or mechanical 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.