AVS 52nd International Symposium
    MEMS and NEMS Monday Sessions
       Session MN-MoA

Paper MN-MoA1
Detection of Specifically Bound Biological Mass with Resonant Nanobeams and Nanochannels

Monday, October 31, 2005, 2:00 pm, Room 207

Session: Materials and Processes for Bio-MEMS and Bio-NEMS
Presenter: S.S. Verbridge, Cornell University
Authors: S.S. Verbridge, Cornell University
J.M. Moran-Mirabal, Cornell University
D.M. Tanenbaum, Pomona College
H.G. Craighead, Cornell University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Nonlithographic techniques have been used for the fabrication of two types of nanostructures, used for detection of biological molecules. Polymeric electrospun fibers with dimensions on the order of 100 nm have been used in combination with photolithography to define free standing beams and channels, made of silicon nitride and glass, respectively. Beams are made by using electrospun fibers as etch masks, and channels by using fibers as a sacrificial core. Critical dimensions of both types of structure are hence determined by polymer nanofiber sizes. Nitride beams with resonant frequencies above 10 MHz, and quality factors above 10,000 have been used as binding sites for biological molecules. Nonspecific binding of proteins such as streptavidin to entire beams, as well as targeted binding using specific thiol linkages on gold binding sites (also defined with photolithography), have both been explored. These free standing nanobeams have been operated in resonance for the detection of the bound biological mass. Suspended glass channels have been used to observe fluorescence from labeled cellulase enzymes, at the single molecule level. Directions for using suspended nanochannels to do mechanical mass detection are also being explored, to make this sort of resonant nanostructure based mass detection technique more compatible with natural fluid systems of biological interest.