Micro- and Nanotechnology in Biosensor Research

Abstract

Biosensor research is strongly interdisciplinary as it requires experience in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, material science, electronics and engineering. The recent progress in micro- and nanotechnology allows to miniaturize complex systems as well as to address problems at a molecular level. The architecture and even the function of single molecules on a sensor surface have been investigated and can to some extent even be predetermined. At present, microtechnology is well established in the production of micro-fluid transport systems and has a high potential for cell-culturing and monitoring devices in the future.
Three different running projects are presented which illustrate the usefulness of micro- and nanotechnology for biosensor research: 1) Investigations on amperometric immunosensor devices, 2) the measurement of binding forces of individual antigen-antibody pairs, and 3) the fabrication of microchannels suitable for neuron-cell growth and recording. Big efforts, however, will be required to integrate the recognition element of a sensor into a device for an intended application