BioMEMS Sensor Systems for Bacterial Infection Detection: Progress and Potential

Author: Ivanov, Dentcho

Source: BioDrugs, Volume 20, Number 6, 2006 , pp. 351-356(6)

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Abstract:

The spread of drug-resistant bacteria represents a growing worldwide health problem. The most efficient way to fight drug-resistant bacteria is to detect their colonies, identify their type, monitor their growth, and destroy them before they reach the human body. A gravimetric biomedical micro-electro-mechanical sensor (BioMEMS) system operating in the pico-gram range (10⁻¹² g/cm²) has been proposed for detecting growth of drug-resistant bacterial colonies. The sensor is based on a MEMS metal-coated thin piezoelectric membrane resonator. A combination of shear horizontal surface acoustic (SHSAW), Bleustein-Gulyaev, skimming and `leaky' waves, generated in the resonator, are highly sensitive to mass, density, viscoelastic, and electrochemical changes at the resonator/bacteria interface. Measuring resonant frequency shifts of the composite resonator provides information about the mass and type of the bacterium colony growing on the resonator.

Keywords: Antibacterial vaccines; Bacterial infections; Devices; Diagnostics

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Microelectronics Fabrication Center, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA

Publication date: 2006-01-01