Pick-and-Place Assembly of Single Microtubules

Fabricating Silicon Resonators for Analysing Biological Samples

The adaptability of microscale devices allows microtechnologies to be used for a wide range of applications. Biology and medicine are among those fields that, in recent decades, have applied microtechnologies to achieve new and improved functionality. However, despite their ability to achieve assay sensitivities that rival or exceed conventional standards, silicon-based microelectromechanical systems remain underutilised for biological and biomedical applications. Although microelectromechanical resonators and actuators do not always exhibit optimal performance in liquid due to electrical double layer formation and high damping, these issues have been solved with some innovative fabrication processes or alternative experimental approaches. This paper focuses on several examples of silicon-based resonating devices with a brief look at their fundamental sensing elements and key fabrication steps, as well as current and potential biological/biomedical applications.

Vertical integration of microchips by magnetic assembly and edge wire bonding

The out-of-plane integration of microfabricated planar microchips into functional three-dimensional (3D) devices is a challenge in various emerging MEMS applications such as advanced biosensors and flow sensors. However, no conventional approach currently provides a versatile solution to vertically assemble sensitive or fragile microchips into a separate receiving substrate and to create electrical connections. In this study, we present a method to realize vertical magnetic-field-assisted assembly of discrete silicon microchips into a target receiving substrate and subsequent electrical contacting of the microchips by edge wire bonding, to create interconnections between the receiving substrate and the vertically oriented microchips. Vertical assembly is achieved by combining carefully designed microchip geometries for shape matching and striped patterns of the ferromagnetic material (nickel) on the backside of the microchips, enabling controlled vertical lifting directionality independently of the microchip's aspect ratio. To form electrical connections between the receiving substrate and a vertically assembled microchip, featuring standard metallic contact electrodes only on its frontside, an edge wire bonding process was developed to realize ball bonds on the top sidewall of the vertically placed microchip. The top sidewall features silicon trenches in correspondence to the frontside electrodes, which induce deformation of the free air balls and result in both mechanical ball bond fixation and around-the-edge metallic connections. The edge wire bonds are realized at room temperature and show minimal contact resistance (<0.2 Ω) and excellent mechanical robustness (>168 mN in pull tests). In our approach, the microchips and the receiving substrate are independently manufactured using standard silicon micromachining processes and materials, with a subsequent heterogeneous integration of the components. Thus, this integration technology potentially enables emerging MEMS applications that require 3D out-of-plane assembly of microchips.

Label-free Imaging and Bending Analysis of Microtubules by ROCS Microscopy and Optical Trapping

Mechanical manipulation of single cytoskeleton filaments and their monitoring over long times is difficult because of fluorescence bleaching or phototoxic protein degradation. The integration of label-free microscopy techniques, capable of imaging freely diffusing, weak scatterers such as microtubules (MTs) in real-time, and independent of their orientation, with optical trapping and tracking systems, would allow many new applications. Here, we show that rotating-coherent-scattering microscopy (ROCS) in dark-field mode can also provide strong contrast for structures far from the coverslip such as arrangements of isolated MTs and networks. We could acquire thousands of images over up to 30 min without loss in image contrast or visible photodamage. We further demonstrate the combination of ROCS imaging with fast and nanometer-precise 3D interferometric back-focal-plane tracking of multiple beads in time-shared optical traps using acoustooptic deflectors to specifically construct and microrheologically probe small microtubule networks with well-defined geometries. Thereby, we explore the frequency-dependent elastic response of single microtubule filaments between 0.5 Hz and 5 kHz, which allows for investigating their viscoelastic response up to the fourth-order bending mode. Our spectral analysis reveals constant filament stiffness at low frequencies and frequency-dependent stiffening following a power law ∼ω^p with a length-dependent exponent p(L). We find further evidence for the dependence of the MT persistence length on the contour length L, which is still controversially debated. We could also demonstrate slower stiffening at high frequencies for longer filaments, which we believe is determined by the molecular architecture of the MT. Our results shed new light on the nanomechanics of this essential, multifunctional cytoskeletal element and pose new questions about the adaptability of the cytoskeleton.

Developing a MEMS Device with Built-in Microfluidics for Biophysical Single Cell Characterization

This study combines the high-throughput capabilities of microfluidics with the sensitive measurements of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology to perform biophysical characterization of circulating cells for diagnostic purposes. The proposed device includes a built-in microchannel that is probed by two opposing tips performing compression and sensing separately. Mechanical displacement of the compressing tip (up to a maximum of 14 µm) and the sensing tip (with a quality factor of 8.9) are provided by two separate comb-drive actuators, and sensing is performed with a capacitive displacement sensor. The device is designed and developed for simultaneous electrical and mechanical measurements. As the device is capable of exchanging the liquid inside the channel, different solutions were tested consecutively. The performance of the device was evaluated by introducing varying concentrations of glucose (from 0.55 mM (0.1%) to 55.5 mM (10%)) and NaCl (from 0.1 mM to 10 mM) solutions in the microchannel and by monitoring changes in the mechanical and electrical properties. Moreover, we demonstrated biological sample handling by capturing single cancer cells. These results show three important capabilities of the proposed device: mechanical measurements, electrical measurements, and biological sample handling. Combined in one device, these features allow for high-throughput multi-parameter characterization of single cells.