Miniaturized bacterial biosensor system for arsenic detection holds great promise for making integrated measurement device

Ecotoxicology Goes on a Chip: Embracing Miniaturized Bioanalysis in Aquatic Risk Assessment

“…Very little interest has so far been expressed in such chip-based system in the environmental toxicology community. Some most notable recent examples are ecotoxicity assessments using single Paramecium tetraurelia cells encased in water-in-oil emulsion droplets as well as dedicated microfluidic technologies for microtoxicological studies utilizing bacteria, algae and protozoa. − ,− …”

“…Microfluidic and LOC technologies are here uniquely positioned to enable realization of truly miniaturized in situ analyzers that can provide long operational lifetimes, low power/low volume operation, as well as highly multiparametric data acquisition. , Although this area of research is still largely underexploited, an amalgamation of LOC with electrochemical sensors as well as bioassays are receiving increasing attention (Figure and ) . So far, most efforts were directed toward the development of technological aspects of automated sensing such as reliable miniaturized pumping and valving systems, integration of chemical solid-state sensors as well as the investigation of low cost manufacturing techniques to scale up their production. − From the perspective of chemical analysis the integration of colorimetry, immune- and electrochemical sensing techniques with microscale fluidics has been extensively pursued as it offers excellent detection limits, typically in the order of 10 nM. − Substantially, less progress has been done on integrating biochemical, bacterial, cell- or organism-based bioassays on autonomous microfluidic sensors. ,,− Perhaps most notable are the developments achieved in bacterial-based sensors and eukaryotic-cell-based water toxicity screening using electric cell–substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) technology, led primarily by the work of US Army Center for Environmental Health Research. , ECIS, using mammalian cells grown on a chip for up to 16 weeks, was initially developed as a field deployable and single use point-of-care (POC) device to rapidly test drinking water for possible chemical contaminations . Owing to low relevance of mammalian cells to aquatic toxicity testing, as well as very specific conditions required to culture them, the ECIS technology was further adapted to use rainbow trout gill cells (RTgill-W1) .…”

Microfluidic Organ/Body-on-a-Chip Devices at the Convergence of Biology and Microengineering

“…In addition to faster medical diagnostics [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], microfluidics is being applied in drugs of abuse testing [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ], pollutant detection [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], combatting biowarfare [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ] and also in laboratory routines in a research context, as described below.…”

DNA Input Classification by a Riboregulator-Based Cell-Free Perceptron

“… 1 − 5 The parallels in information processing between living systems and electronic devices have led to the development of numerous synthetic biological logic circuits inspired by their counterparts in the field of electrical engineering. 6 − 13 While the development of such circuits can be seen as a purely scientific exercise, 14 − 16 these systems are increasingly being applied toward practical applications such as biomarker recognition for medical diagnostics, 17 − 21 the detection of pollutants, 22 , 23 and a variety of cell therapies. 24 − 27 Herein, the ability to differentiate between various unique biomarkers, as well as combinations thereof, and the subsequent categorization of biomarker patterns into identifiable classes is critical.…”