Transistors for Chemical Monitoring of Living Cells

Abstract

Featured Application Animal testing will be soon replaced by better accepted and less expensive in-vitro cell culture models, which explains the recent demand for real-time cell culture monitoring systems. They can bring high throughput screening and could be used not only for biomedical purposes (drug discovery, toxicology, protein expression, cancer diagnostic, etc.), but also for environmental ones (qualification of pollutants cocktails, for example). Beyond this, in-situ monitoring also participates in strengthening the fundamental knowledge about cells metabolism. AbstractWe review here the chemical sensors for pH, glucose, lactate, and neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine or glutamate, made of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), including organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) and electrolyte-gated OFETs (EGOFETs), for the monitoring of cell activity. First, the various chemicals that are produced by living cells and are susceptible to be sensed in-situ in a cell culture medium are reviewed. Then, we discuss the various materials used to make the substrate onto which cells can be grown, as well as the materials used for making the transistors. The main part of this review discusses the up-to-date transistor architectures that have been described for cell monitoring to date.

Tuning Microbial Activity via Programmatic Alteration of Cell/Substrate Interfaces

“…With respect to potential practical applications of such approaches, one should think of materials and cultures that might be used to construct novel types of "smart" biointerfaces. Particularly, due to unique electronic properties and proven biocompatibility, certain semiconductor surfaces [256,257] are promising for the formation of interfaces with organic tissue and various types of microorganisms. In summary, it is necessary to put together collaborative efforts in designing programmable materials based on microorganism-semiconductor biointerfaces.…”

Organic Bioelectronics for In Vitro Systems

“…Transistors represent another interesting class of electronic devices that can be used for biosensing, as they bear the advantage of transducing the biorecognition events directly into electric signals. Moreover, such a signal can be amplified by the transistor effect as detailed in section …”

Current Trends in the Biosensors for Biological Warfare Agents Assay

“…Limit of detection for the biosensor was 5.7 nmol/L and it exerted a linear range of 22.9–86.0 nmol/L for a 5 min lasting assay. Platforms based on semiconductors are another way to construct a biosensor with applicability to various analytes [80,81,82,83,84,85]. They are also suitable for biological warfare agents, which can be seen from following examples.…”