Bio-electro-mechanical probe station (FT-EM2100 MEMS Probe station) for simultaneous testing of Bio-mechanical, electrical and geometrical properties of cells

生物机电探针台（FT-EM2100 MEMS探针台），用于同时测试细胞的生物机械、电气和几何特性

• 批准号: 472470-2015
• 负责人: Packirisamy, Muthukumaran
• 金额: $ 10.93万
• 依托单位: Concordia University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=564762
• 关键词: Bio; electro; mechanical; probe; station

Even though Concordia houses various state-of-the-art research facilities, a number of crucial studies in the areas bio-electro-mechanical interactions and mechanobiological studies of cells are currently limited due to the dire need for a highly specialized high-resolution electro-mechanical probe system. Such an equipment would enhance ongoing research on developing of more reliable models and design methods by reducing the degree of uncertainty related to bio-mechanical interactions and sensing methods. The FT-EM2100 MEMS Probe station from Femtotools offers this leading-edge capacity. No similar equipment is available at Concordia or known partner institutions. Acquiring this equipment would not only advance effective collaboration between engineers, biologists and physicists but would also sustain leading-edge research success, strengthen training goals, enhance quality of dissertations, and shorten graduation time. We believe the understanding of the influence of material and electrical properties is fundamentally critical to the realization of micro or micro-nano integrated devices for biological, cellular and chemical studies. This essential research is complementary to both our engineers and physicists working in the area of microsystems, microfluidics, application of micro-nano integrated systems for bio and chemical applications, as well as for our biologists working in characterizing cellular and molecular interactions. Current research involving the imaging of cells and tissues and monitoring of metabolic activities is being done at Concordia to develop microsystems for bio applications including diagnosis of growth hormones in milk and cancer cells. However, the incapability of looking closely at the biomechanical cellular interactions is a major setback. The requested equipment surmounts this obstacle by permitting observation of thin sections of biological samples greatly advancing such critical ongoing cellular studies such as that on the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans and liver cancer cells, for example. Housed in the optical-bio microsystems lab, the system will be open to on-site and other inter-institutional collaborations across Canada including McGill, UdeM, ETS and École Polytechnique.

尽管Concordia拥有各种最先进的研究设施，但由于迫切需要高度专业化的高分辨率机电探针系统，目前在生物机电相互作用和细胞机械生物学研究领域的一些关键研究受到限制。这种设备将通过减少与生物机械相互作用和传感方法有关的不确定性程度，加强正在进行的关于开发更可靠的模型和设计方法的研究。Femtotools的FT-EM 2100 MEMS探针台提供了这种领先的能力。Concordia或已知的合作机构没有类似的设备。获得这种设备不仅可以促进工程师，生物学家和物理学家之间的有效合作，还可以保持领先的研究成功，加强培训目标，提高论文质量，缩短毕业时间。我们相信，了解材料和电学性质的影响对于实现用于生物，细胞和化学研究的微或微纳集成器件至关重要。这项重要的研究是我们的工程师和物理学家在微系统，微流体，微纳集成系统的生物和化学应用领域工作的补充，以及我们的生物学家在表征细胞和分子相互作用。目前的研究涉及细胞和组织的成像和代谢活动的监测正在Concordia进行，以开发用于生物应用的微系统，包括诊断牛奶和癌细胞中的生长激素。然而，无法仔细观察生物力学细胞相互作用是一个重大挫折。所要求的设备克服了这一障碍，允许观察生物样本的薄切片，大大推进了正在进行的关键细胞研究，例如对人类真菌病原体白色念珠菌和肝癌细胞的研究。该系统位于光学生物微系统实验室，将开放给加拿大各地的现场和其他机构间合作，包括麦吉尔大学、UdeM、ETS和理工学院。