SBIR Phase I: Single Cell Growth Measuring Device

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I SBIR project will demonstrate the feasibility of a MEMS-based measurement device, capable of measuring the growth and reproduction of individual mammalian cells and micro-organisms such as bacteria in fluid environments. The device is based on a suspended microchannel resonator (SMR), a microfabricated vibrating beam which measures minute changes in mass based on shifts in the resonant frequency of the vibrating beam. If successful, the device is capable of femtogram (10-15 gram) resolution, and can therefore measure the growth of individual cells rapidly, before they undergo mitosis. Because of its high resolution, the device can be used to measure the susceptibility of the organism to various therapeutic compounds, such as antibiotics, by detecting changes in the growth rate directly, in a matter of minutes, without having to wait for the culturing of colonies of such cells. The broader/commercial impact of this project is that it can be used in diverse applications in medicine and biomedical research, such as drug susceptibility and pathogen diagnosis technique. Currently, the diagnosis of many infectious diseases is accomplished by culturing a sample of the suspect pathogen, staining the sample and observing the sample under a microscope. For slow growing bacteria such as Mycobacteria tuberculosis (TB), the necessity of waiting 4-6 weeks for culturing and diagnosis delays the treatment, furthering the spread of disease, and exacerbating the growing threat of drug-resistant strains. If successful, the device is targeted to have the capability of speeding the TB diagnosis and treatment to hours, rather than weeks, by directly identifying the pathogen and the optimum course of treatment to be administered to the infected individual. The technique has broad applications including directly assessing antibiotic compounds, drug promoters and inhibitors, cancer treatments as well as immune and allergic responses.