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

尽管康科迪亚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头系统，目前在细胞生物-机电相互作用和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程度，加强正在进行的开发更可靠的模型和设计方法的研究。FemtoTools的FT-EM2100 MEMS探针站提供了这种先进的能力。康科迪亚或已知的合作机构没有类似的设备。获得这一设备不仅将促进工程师、生物学家和物理学家之间的有效合作，还将保持前沿研究成果，加强培养目标，提高论文质量，缩短毕业时间。我们认为，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米集成器件至关重要。这项重要研究是对我们在微系统、微流体、微纳米集成系统在生物和化学应用方面的应用的工程师和物理学家的补充，也是对我们的生物学家在表征细胞和分子相互作用方面的补充。目前，康科迪亚正在进行细胞和组织成像和代谢活动监测的研究，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，无法近距离观察生物力学细胞间的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片，极大地促进了正在进行的关键细胞研究，例如关于人类真菌病原体白色念珠菌和肝癌细胞的研究。该系统设在光学-生物微系统实验室，将向加拿大各地的现场和其他机构间合作开放，包括McGill、UdeM、ETS和Elcole Polytech。

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.