Abstract

Microfluidics For Biohybrid Devices

Shoji Takeuchi, Professor and Director, The University of Tokyo

In this presentation, I will talk about several approaches to develop MEMS/Microfluidic devices combined with living materials for various biomedical sensing and healthcare applications. Living materials show superior functions to the artificial ones such in terms of the ability to recognize/produce biomolecules. For example, membrane proteins achieve highly-sensitive and selective detection of several chemicals at the molecular level; they can even distinguish between different chemical moieties found in various odorants. When a certain ion channel activating a single ligand molecule opens for 1 s under a 100 mV-membrane potential, the number of monovalent ions that are transferred through the ion channel reaches the 106-107 level and generates a few pico-amperes. This reaction means that chemical signals are converted to amplified current signals in living systems; the system can be regarded as a transistor with an excellent amplifier. Here, one of my talk will include our approaches toward biohybrid sensors: a microdevice having membrane proteins (receptors) reconstituted into cells or planar lipid bilayers. We believe that the devices are useful for a highly-selective and rapid detection of various chemicals including drugs, odorants and tastants. This approach is likely to lead to a wide variety of applications including environmental monitoring, food control, and highly-sensitive diagnostic tools.