Development of Microcantilever Sensors for Cell Studies

The ability to monitor cell proliferation precisely is fundamental to many biomedical applications including infectious diseases, drug discovery and testing, and public health applications, such as food and water quality. Current methods to monitor cell growth inevitably introduce external interference into the systems. The use of microcantilevers for cell studies provides many advantages, such as being highly sensitive, selective, label-free, real time, and provides in-situ detection methods.

The first examples of growth induced surface stress bending of microcantilever sensors for cytotoxicity tests with yeast, mammalian (liver), and stem cells will be presented, expanding the applications of simple bending mode microcantilevers as a powerful cell screening tool for cell-based assays as well as providing new fundamental insights into cell interactions with various drugs, toxins, and hazardous materials.