Sensing lipid bilayer formation and expansion with a microfabricated cantilever array

Nanomechanical Sensors

This chapter introduces nanomechanical sensors and their applications. All molecules have “volume” and “mass.” Direct measurement of these fundamental parameters can realize label-free and real-time measurements. Nanomechanical sensors have been emerging as a key device for such label-free and real-time measurements with their multiple operation modes; static and dynamic modes for detecting volume- and mass-related features, respectively. A cantilever array sensor is a representative example among various geometries, while structural optimization can enhance the scope of nanomechanical sensors in both academic and industrial applications. One of the most advanced sensing platforms is a membrane-type surface stress sensor (MSS), which realizes both high sensitivity and compact system at the same time. The MSS is also expected to contribute to addressing nanomechanical behavior of living cells and their network.

Real-time detection of lipid bilayer assembly and detergent-initiated solubilization using optical cavities

The cellular membrane governs numerous fundamental biological processes. Therefore, developing a comprehensive understanding of its structure and function is critical. However, its inherent biological complexity gives rise to numerous inter-dependent physical phenomena. In an attempt to develop a model, two different experimental approaches are being pursued in parallel: performing single cell experiments (top down) and using biomimetic structures (bottom up), such as lipid bilayers. One challenge in many of these experiments is the reliance on fluorescent probes for detection which can create confounds in this already complex system. In the present work, a label-free detection method based on an optical resonant cavity is used to detect one of the fundamental physical phenomena in the system: assembly and solubilization of the lipid bilayer. The evanescent field of the cavity strongly interacts with the lipid bilayer, enabling the detection of the bilayer behavior in real-time. Two independent detection mechanisms confirm the formation and detergent-assisted solubilization of the lipid bilayers: (1) a refractive index change and (2) a material loss change. Both mechanisms can be monitored in parallel, on the same device, thus allowing for cross-confirmation of the results. To verify the proposed method, we have detected the formation of self-assembled phosphatidylcholine lipid bilayers from small unilamellar vesicles on the device surface in real-time. Subsequently, we exposed the bilayers to two different detergents (non-ionic Triton X-100 and anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate) to initiate solubilization, and this process was also detected in real-time. After the bilayer solubilization, the device returned to its initial state, exhibiting minimal hysteresis. The experimental wash-off was also collected and analyzed using dynamic light scattering.

Double-side-coated nanomechanical membrane-type surface stress sensor (MSS) for one-chip-one-channel setup

With their capability for real-time and label-free detection of targets ranging from gases to biological molecules, nanomechanical sensors are expected to contribute to various fields, such as medicine, security, and environmental science. For practical applications, one of the major issues of nanomechanical sensors is the difficulty of coating receptor layers on their surfaces to which target molecules adsorb or react. To have measurable deflection, a single-side coating is commonly applied to cantilever-type geometry, and it requires specific methods or protocols, such as inkjet spotting or gold-thiol chemistry. If we can apply a double-side coating to nanomechanical sensors, it allows almost any kind of coating technique including dip coating methods, making nanomechanical sensors more useful with better user experiences. Here we address the feasibility of the double-side coating on nanomechanical sensors demonstrated by a membrane-type surface stress sensor (MSS) and verify its working principle by both finite element analysis (FEA) and experiments. In addition, simple hand-operated dip coating is demonstrated as a proof of concept, achieving practical receptor layers without any complex instrumentation. Because the double-side coating is compatible with batch protocols such as dip coating, double-side-coated MSS represents a new paradigm of one-chip-one-channel (channels on a chip are all coated with the same receptor layers) shifting from the conventional one-chip-multiple-channel (channels on a chip are coated with different receptor layers) paradigm.

Cantilever array sensors detect specific carbohydrate-protein interactions with picomolar sensitivity

Advances in carbohydrate sequencing technologies have revealed the tremendous complexity of the glycome. This complexity reflects the structural and chemical diversity of carbohydrates and is greater than that of proteins and oligonucleotides. The next step in understanding the biological function of carbohydrates requires the identification and quantification of carbohydrate interactions with other biomolecules, in particular, with proteins. To this end, we have developed a cantilever array biosensor with a self-assembling carbohydrate-based sensing layer that selectively and sensitively detects carbohydrate-protein binding interactions. Specifically, we examined binding of mannosides and the protein cyanovirin-N, which binds and blocks the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Cyanovirin-N binding to immobilized oligomannosides on the cantilever resulted in mechanical surface stress that is transduced into a mechanical force and cantilever bending. The degree and duration of cantilever deflection correlates with the interaction's strength, and comparative binding experiments reveal molecular binding preferences. This study establishes that carbohydrate-based cantilever biosensors are a robust, label-free, and scalable means to analyze carbohydrate-protein interactions and to detect picomolar concentrations of carbohydrate-binding proteins.

Microcantilever biosensors for chemicals and bioorganisms

In the last fifteen years, microcantilevers (MCLs) have been emerging as a sensitive tool for the detection of chemicals and bioorganisms. Because of their small size, lightweight, and high surface-to-volume ratio, MCL-based sensors improve our capability to detect and identify biological agents by orders of magnitude. A biosensor is a device for the detection of an analyte that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector component. The MCL biosensors have recently been reviewed in several papers. All of these papers were organized based on the sensing biological elements (antibody, enzyme, proteins, etc.) for recognition of analytes. In this review, we intend to summarize the microcantilever biosensors in a format of each specific chemical and bioorganism species to make information on individual biosensors easily accessible. We did this to aid researchers to locate relevant references.

Sensing surface PEGylation with microcantilevers

Polymers are often used to modify surface properties to control interfacial processes. Their sensitivity to solvent conditions and ability to undergo conformational transitions makes polymers attractive in tailoring surface properties with specific functionalities leading to applications in diverse areas ranging from tribology to colloidal stability and medicine. A key example is polyethylene glycol (PEG), which is widely used as a protein-resistant coating given its low toxicity and biocompatibility. We report here a microcantilever-based sensor for the in situ characterization of PEG monolayer formation on Au using the "grafting to" approach. Moreover, we demonstrate how microcantilevers can be used to monitor conformational changes in the grafted PEG layer in different solvent conditions. This is supported by atomic force microscope (AFM) images and force-distance curve measurements of the microcantilever chip surface, which show that the grafted PEG undergoes a reversible collapse when switching between good and poor solvent conditions, respectively.

Approaches to increasing surface stress for improving signal-to-noise ratio of microcantilever sensors

Microcantilever sensor technology has been steadily growing for the last 15 years. While we have gained a great amount of knowledge in microcantilever bending due to surface stress changes, which is a unique property of microcantilever sensors, we are still in the early stages of understanding the fundamental surface chemistries of surface-stress-based microcantilever sensors. In general, increasing surface stress, which is caused by interactions on the microcantilever surfaces, would improve the S/N ratio and subsequently the sensitivity and reliability of microcantilever sensors. In this review, we will summarize (A) the conditions under which a large surface stress can readily be attained and (B) the strategies to increase surface stress in case a large surface stress cannot readily be reached. We will also discuss our perspectives on microcantilever sensors based on surface stress changes.

Nanomechanical Cantilever Array Sensors

Microfabricated cantilever sensors have attracted much interest in recent years as devices for the fast and reliable detection of small concentrations of molecules in air and solution. In addition to application of such sensors for gas and chemical-vapor sensing, for example as an artificial nose, they have also been employed to measure physical properties of tiny amounts of materials in miniaturized versions of conventional standard techniques such as calorimetry, thermogravimetry, weighing, photothermal spectroscopy, as well as for monitoring chemical reactions such as catalysis on small surfaces. In the past few years, the cantilever-sensor concept has been extended to biochemical applications and as an analytical device for measurements of biomaterials. Because of the label-free detection principle of cantilever sensors, their small size and scalability, this kind of device is advantageous for diagnostic applications and disease monitoring, as well as for genomics or proteomics purposes. The use of microcantilever arrays enables detection of several analytes simultaneously and solves the inherent problem of thermal drift often present when using single microcantilever sensors, as some of the cantilevers can be used as sensor cantilevers for detection, and other cantilevers serve as passivated reference cantilevers that do not exhibit affinity to the molecules to be detected.

Comprehensive characterization of molecular interactions based on nanomechanics

Molecular interaction is a key concept in our understanding of the biological mechanisms of life. Two physical properties change when one molecular partner binds to another. Firstly, the masses combine and secondly, the structure of at least one binding partner is altered, mechanically transducing the binding into subsequent biological reactions. Here we present a nanomechanical micro-array technique for bio-medical research, which not only monitors the binding of effector molecules to their target but also the subsequent effect on a biological system in vitro. This label-free and real-time method directly and simultaneously tracks mass and nanomechanical changes at the sensor interface using micro-cantilever technology. To prove the concept we measured lipid vesicle (approximately 748*10(6) Da) adsorption on the sensor interface followed by subsequent binding of the bee venom peptide melittin (2840 Da) to the vesicles. The results show the high dynamic range of the instrument and that measuring the mass and structural changes simultaneously allow a comprehensive discussion of molecular interactions.

Cantilever biosensors

This review will provide a general introduction to the field of cantilever biosensors by discussing the basic principles and the basic technical background necessary to understand and evaluate this class of sensors. Microfabricated cantilever sensors respond to changes in their environment or changes on their surface with a mechanical bending in the order of nanometers which can easily be detected. They are able to detect pH and temperature changes, the formation of self-assembled monolayers, DNA hybridization, antibody-antigen interactions, or the adsorption of bacteria. The review will focus on the surface stress mode of microfabricated cantilever arrays and their application as biosensors in molecular life science. A general background on biosensors, an overview of the different modes of operation of cantilever sensors and some details on sensor functionalization will be given. Finally, key experiments and current theoretical efforts to describe the surface stress mode of cantilever sensors will be discussed.