A CMOS Multi-Modal Electrochemical and Impedance Cellular Sensing Array for Massively Paralleled Exoelectrogen...

Area of Science:

• Bioengineering
• Microfluidics
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Characterizing exoelectrogens is crucial for synthetic biology but often limited by slow, low-resolution methods.
• Existing techniques struggle with multi-dimensional analysis and high-throughput screening of microbial fuel cell components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a high-resolution, high-throughput CMOS sensor array for simultaneous electrochemical and impedance-based characterization of exoelectrogens.
• To enable rapid, multi-dimensional analysis of biological samples, accelerating engineering efforts in synthetic biology.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a 256-pixel CMOS integrated circuit with 16 parallel readout channels using a 130nm BiCMOS process.
• Integration of on-chip electrodes with biocompatible fabrication steps, including an aluminum-etch process.
• Validation using electrochemical detection of NaFeEDTA and Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, and impedance measurements of HEK-293 cancer cells.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated quantification of electrochemical current and differentiation of analyte concentrations.
• Successfully captured cell-to-surface adhesion information using impedance spectroscopy on cultured cancer cells.
• Achieved superior spatial resolution and speed compared to conventional discrete setups for exoelectrogen analysis.

Conclusions:

• The developed CMOS sensor array offers a significant advancement in exoelectrogen characterization, enabling rapid, multi-dimensional analysis.
• This technology has the potential to drastically accelerate synthetic biology engineering by providing high-throughput screening capabilities.
• The integrated dual-modality detection enhances the versatility and efficiency of biological sample analysis.