title: Microcantilever biosensors.
abstract: Biosensors are sensors in which biomolecular interactions are used as sensing reactions. Biomolecular interactions, when combined with a microcantilever platform, can produce an extremely powerful biosensing design. The resonance frequency of a microcantilever shifts sensitively due to mass loading from molecular interaction as in the case of any acoustic sensors. In addition, the microcantilevers also undergo bending if the molecular adsorption is confined to a single surface of a microcantilever. This cantilever bending is due to a differential surface stress caused by the forces involved in the adsorption process and is amplified by making the cantilever surfaces chemically different. Lack of specificity, the main disadvantage of the cantilevers, can be overcome by using the extremely selective biochemical reactions such as receptor-ligand, antibody-antigen, or enzyme-substrate reactions. Here we review the microcantilever technology and discuss a number of highly sensitive biochemical sensor applications based on microcantilevers.
authors.affiliation: Nanoscale Science and Devices Group, Life Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA. hansenkm1@ornl.gov
authors.forename: Karolyn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thundat
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008832:Microchemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D013499:Surface Properties; D014159:Transducers