A nucleic acid detection plate comprises a piezoelectric sensor and at least a pipe flowing through the surface of the piezoelectric sensor, two valves intervally installed on the pipe relative to the upstream end of the piezoelectric sensor, the nucleic acid to be detected is blocked in the pipe between the two valves for isothermal amplification; the nucleic acid detection system comprises the nucleic acid detection plate described above, a thermostat capable of accommodating the nucleic acid detection plate; and a signal processor capable of being date connected to the piezoelectric sensor. The inventive method simplifies device structure in through coordinated detection by combination of thermostatic amplification and piezoelectric sensing, and improves detection efficiency.

The present invention relates to the field of nucleic acid production, in particular in vitro RNA transcription. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method wherein physicochemical properties of the reaction mixture are monitored in order to timely stop the reaction and/or to add fresh reagents to allow the reaction to continue under optimal conditions. In particular, conductivity, but also pH and/or optical density is determined at at least two different time points, or continuously during the in vitro transcription reaction.

Described are interdigitated electrodes, which may optionally be plasmonic, useful for in vitro biosensing applications. Such devices may significantly reduce undesired background noise by separating the excitation source (light) from the detection signal (current), and thereby, leading to higher sensitivity for bioanalysis compared with conventional interdigitated electrodes. Also described are methods of making such interdigitated electrodes, which allow a substrate, which may optionally be plasmonic, to be tuned not only to maximize the targeted interaction of the cells with the nanoscale geometry, but also for the excitation wavelength to minimize biological sample interference.

Provided is a potential measurement device including: a first substrate having read electrodes arranged in a two-dimensional array; and a second substrate on which the first substrate is stacked, in which each of the read electrodes includes at least one or more AD conversion circuits each having independent correspondence to the read electrode, and at least a part of the AD conversion circuits is arranged in a two-dimensional array on the second substrate.

An electrochemical biosensor based on magnetically coupled LC sensors for the rapid detection of microbial growth and sensitivity to microbials. The engineered LC sensors can be placed in 96 well plates and communicate the reading remotely with a receiver coil for signal analysis. The sensors were validated by testing the growth of Escherichia. coli, Staphylococcus. aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the presence and absence of different antibiotics. Drug-resistant strains were used as controls. Bacterial growth was detected within 30 mins of culture inoculation, allowing rapid determination of antibiotic susceptibility at the phenotypic level. The pattern shown in the LC sensor AST is consistent with results collected with traditional optical density (OD) 600 nm measurement, additional validation was also performed with lysogeny broth (LB) dosed with fetal bovine serum (FBS). With the compatibility with 96-well plates, this rapid AST may be used for low-cost, point-of-care applications.

This invention relates to a capacitor comprising two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric, the dielectric comprising microorganisms. The dielectric may comprise a biological indicator. This invention relates to a process for determining whether the microorganisms are alive or dead. The number of microorganisms can be determined. This invention relates to a process for testing the efficacy of a sterilization process using the capacitor.

This invention relates to a capacitor comprising two electrical conductors separated by a dielectric, the dielectric comprising microorganisms. The dielectric may comprise a biological indicator. This invention relates to a process for determining whether the microorganisms are alive or dead. The number of microorganisms can be determined. This invention relates to a process for testing the efficacy of a sterilization process using the capacitor.

Disclosed herein is a microelectrode platform that may be used for multiple biosystem applications including cell culturing techniques and biosensing. Also disclosed are microfabrication techniques for inexpensively producing microelectrode platforms.

A microfluidic chamber, including: an internal compartment sized and shaped for culturing cells; an external compartment surrounding at least part of the internal compartment, sized and shaped for culturing cells; at least one flow path connecting the internal compartment and the external compartment, sized and shaped to allow penetration of cell extensions from the internal compartment into the external compartment, wherein the internal compartment, the external compartment and the at least one flow path are formed on a base layer of the microfluidic chamber; at least one micro-pattern in the base layer of said microfluidic chamber shaped and sized to align cells cultured in the microfluidic chamber relative to each other.

Methods of assessing cytolysis of cancer cells, including providing a cell-substrate impedance monitoring device operably connected to an impedance analyzer, wherein the device comprises a well for receiving cells and an electrode array at a base of the well; adding target cells characterized as cancer cells to the well; adding effector cells to the well to form a test well, wherein the effector cells are immune cells obtained or derived from a same patient as the target cells; monitoring cell-substrate impedance of the test well before and after adding the effector cells and optionally deriving an impedance-based parameter from the impedance; and determining effectiveness of effector cell killing of the target cells by comparing the impedance or impedance based parameter over time.