Bioelectronics of The Cellular Cytoskeleton: Monitoring Cytoskeletal Conductance Variation for Sensing Drug Resistance.

Actin and microtubules form cellular cytoskeletal network, which mediates cell shape, motility and proliferation and are key targets for cancer therapy. Changes in cytoskeletal organization dramatically affect mechanical properties of the cells and correlate with proliferative capacity and invasiveness of cancer cells. Changes in the cytoskeletal network expectedly lead to altered nonmechanical material properties including electrical conductivity as well.

An electrochemical biosensor to distinguish between normal and cancer cells based on monitoring their acidosis using gold-coated silicon Nano-roughened electrode.

One of the most interesting fields of research in cancer diagnosis is tracing the relation between extracellular media and cancer progression. Detecting the secreting contents of the cells and translating these molecular identifications into label-free recognizable patterns would open new opportunities in cancer research. Electrochemical responses are in the range of most attractive sensing mechanisms especially in biochemical approaches.

Tracing the pH dependent activation of autophagy in cancer cells by silicon nanowire-based impedance biosensor.

Monitoring the pH dependent behavior of normal and cancer cells by impedimetric biosensor based on Silicon Nanowires (SiNWs) was introduced to diagnose the invasive cancer cells. Autophagy as a biologically activated process in invasive cancer cells during acidosis, protect them from apoptosis in lower pH which presented in our work. As the autophagy is the only activated pathways which can maintain cellular proliferation in acidic media, responses of SiNW-ECIS in acidified cells could be correlated to the probability of autophagy activation in normal or cancer cells.

Nanoelectromechanical Chip (NELMEC) Combination of Nanoelectronics and Microfluidics to Diagnose Epithelial and Mesenchymal Circulating Tumor Cells from Leukocytes.

An integrated nano-electromechanical chip (NELMEC) has been developed for the label-free distinguishing of both epithelial and mesenchymal circulating tumor cells (ECTCs and MCTCs, respectively) from white blood cells (WBCs). This nanoelectronic microfluidic chip fabricated by silicon micromachining can trap large single cells (>12 µm) at the opening of the analysis microchannel arrays. The nature of the captured cells is detected using silicon nanograss (SiNG) electrodes patterned at the entrance of the channels.

Monitoring the spreading stage of lung cells by silicon nanowire electrical cell impedance sensor for cancer detection purposes.

We developed a silicon nanowire based electrical cell impedance sensor (SiNW-ECIS) as an instrument that detects cancerous cultured living lung cells by monitoring their spreading state at which the cells stretched and become extended on nanowires. Further current penetration into the extended membrane of malignant cells in respect to normal ones (In the first 6h after cells interaction with surface) are the key mechanism in our diagnosis procedure. The developed device applied to monitor the spreading-induced electrical differences between cancerous and normal lung cells in an integral fashion.