Measuring and Modeling Macrophage Growth using a Lab-on-CMOS Capacitance Sensing Microsystem

Abstract

We report on the use of a lab-on-CMOS biosensor platform for quantitatively tracking the growth of RAW 264.7 murine Balb/c macrophages. We show that macrophage growth over a wide sensing area correlates linearly with an average capacitance growth factor resulting from capacitance measurements at a plurality of electrodes dispersed in the sensing area. We further show a temporal model that captures the cell evolution in the area of interest over long periods (e.g., 30 hours). The model links the cell numbers and the average capacitance growth factor associated with the sensing area to describe the observed growth kinetics.

Machine Learning Identification and Classification of Cancer Cell Behaviors in a Lab-on-CMOS Capacitance Sensing Platform

“…shows example capacitance time series data (thin traces) obtained from several sensor pixels of the CMOS chip comprised in the microsystem. The thick blue line is a Savitsky-Golay fit of the average data from all the pixels, and it is a temporal measure of the degree of proliferation in the area spanned by the pixels [21].…”

“…Furthermore, staining is usually performed as an endpoint assay, making it difficult to track cells in real time over extended periods [8]. Lastly, these techniques require skilled laboratory technicians and significant hardware overhead for proper execution [9]. These last two factors render labeling or staining expensive and difficult to deploy in resource-limited settings.…”

“…Label-free electronic microsystems configured to monitor biological processes help mediate the aforementioned issues [9]. These devices use electrical or electrochemical transduction mechanisms to monitor cell activity at a bioelectronic interface.…”