Biophysical sensing at the micro- and nano-scale

人们越来越需要新的、更强大的定量分析技术来探索生物系统的复杂世界。 在过去的十年左右，新的微制造技术已经开始弥合硅加工和生物学之间的差距，使用于检测生物物质的微米和纳米级传感器的设计具有前所未有的灵敏度。 此外，微流控和纳流控技术允许操纵极少量的生物物质，最终提高效率，降低成本，并提供获取新现象的途径。 该研究计划将为生物材料的检测和分析提供新的工具和方法，包括生物分子，病毒，细菌和其他类型的细胞。 开发新的微流体生物传感平台的研究将受到以下需求的驱动：为各种应用提供新的检测方法，包括医学诊断、环境监测、稀有细胞筛选（例如循环癌细胞）、病原体检测（例如食品安全）、环境监测，以及实现用于对生物系统进行基础研究的新测量能力。 该计划将设计能够操纵和检测复杂生物样品的新型微流体平台。 这种多学科的努力解决了一个充满活力和令人兴奋的研究领域。 虽然最初是应用驱动的，但这些技术也将通过提供新的定量和实时分析技术来鼓励合作，以补充生物学中用于研究细胞的现有方法。 此外，该计划将为HQP提供独特的机会，提供实验物理，微细加工，表面化学，机械/电气工程，细胞培养，单细胞生物学等方面的培训。

There is an ever-growing need for novel and more powerful quantitative analytical techniques used to explore the complex world of biological systems. In the last decade or so, new microfabrication technologies have begun to bridge the gap between silicon processing and biology, enabling the design of micro- and nano-scale sensors used to detect biological matter with unprecedented levels of sensitivity. Moreover, micro- and nano-fluidic technologies allow for the manipulation of extremely small volumes of biological matter, ultimately increasing efficiency, reducing costs and providing access to new phenomena. This research program will offer new tools and methods for the detection and analysis of biological material, including biomolecules, viruses, bacteria and other types of cells. Research into the development of new microfluidic biosensing platforms will be driven by the need to provide novel approaches to detection for various applications including medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, rare cell screening (e.g. circulating cancer cells), pathogen detection (e.g. food safety), environmental monitoring, as well as for enabling new measurement capabilities used to conduct fundamental studies on biological systems. This program will see the design of novel microfluidic platforms capable of both manipulating and detecting complex biological samples. This multidisciplinary effort addresses a dynamic and exciting area of research. While initially application-driven, these technologies will also encourage collaborative efforts by providing new quantitative and real-time analytical techniques complementing existing approaches used in biology to study cells. Moreover, this program will offer unique opportunities to HQP, providing training in experimental physics, microfabrication, surface chemistry, mechanical/electrical engineering, cell culture, single cell biology, etc. This interdisciplinary training in bio-nano-technology will provide HQP with a broad set of invaluable skills and knowledge empowering them in their future careers.