Janos Vörös

Laboratory of Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University and ETH Zurich, Switzerland; voros@ethz.ch

Abstract:

The traditional way of addressing questions related to the function of the brain involves studying the nervous system of various organism. However, this at the same time means to study something that is highly complex and largely unknown. We follow a bottom-up approach using special micro-‎1 and nano-‎2 structures to build and study well-defined, small neural networks for fundamental neuroscience‎3 and personalized medicine‎4. In such model systems, a multi-compartment model consisting of several different cell types is often required. Here, FluidFM is the only tool that enables an automated pick-and-place methodology to add the desired number and type of cells or spheroids into each compartment.‎5

Another bioelectronic innovation is related to nanopore based biosensors that not only provide the possibility of detecting single molecules, but the characteristic peaks in translocation events also enable their identification. Here, I will introduce how FluidFM can be converted into a force-controlled nanopore sensor with scanning capabilities that allows analysing the content of live cells and the characterization of cell-cell communication.‎6 Functionalizing the nanopores with amino-acid-specific aptamers even enabled the identification of peptides demonstrating the potential for protein sequencing.‎7

Overall, this talk will introduce two selected examples of how the versatility of FluidFM can be utilized in bioelectronic research.