Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development Of Nanomechanical Sensors For Environmental Contaminate Screening Using Protein Functionalized Microcantilevers, Kasey L. Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

The development of real time, label-free biosensors based on ligand-induced nanomechanical responses of microcantilevers (MCs) allows for sensitive and selective detection. High sensitivity is afforded by the MCs small dimensions. Immobilizing biomolecular recognition phases imparts selectivity from bioaffinity interactions. Biological sensors on a MC platform utilize various proteins, such as antibodies and nuclear receptors, which can be used to detect and screen for potential environmental contaminants.

The interaction between contaminants and immobilized receptors induces an apparent surface stress that leads to static bending of the MC, which is monitored by an optical beam bending technique. Biofunctionalized MCs can provide high …