Biological detection by means of mass reduction in a suspended microchannel resonator

Label-free detection is the detection of biomolecules and their interactions, without the use of a molecule external to the interaction, used as a reporter to indicate presence and/or location. The suspended microchannel resonator offers the opportunity to perform such label-free measurements. The goal of this work is to open new avenues of possible applications for the suspended channel. I introduce the concept of detecting mass subtraction as a new approach, rather than the conventional detection of mass addition. In a model implementation scenario of this approach, a mass-intensifying tag bound to a small ligand molecule will be equilibrated with surface-immobilized receptors, and later displaced by an identical, but label-free, ligand molecule. This approach offers opportunities to extend the sensitivity range of the device, as well as introduces new functionality for it. It enables researchers to follow, label-free, real-time enzymatic reactions, relative affinities of different ligands to a receptor, and presence of small molecules in a solution.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological Engineering Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Levy-Tzedek, Shelly

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Scott R. Manalis.

• Biological Engineering Division.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28623

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/28623