Self-assembled sensor-in-a-tube as a versatile tool for label-free EIS viability investigation of cervical cancer cells

Eashika Ghosh; Aleksandr I. Egunov; Daniil Karnaushenko; Mariana Medina-Sánchez; Oliver G. Schmidt

doi:10.1515/freq-2022-0090

Article

Self-assembled sensor-in-a-tube as a versatile tool for label-free EIS viability investigation of cervical cancer cells

Eashika Ghosh , Aleksandr I. Egunov , Daniil Karnaushenko , Mariana Medina-Sánchez and Oliver G. Schmidt

Published/Copyright: October 24, 2022

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From the journal Frequenz Volume 76 Issue 11-12

Abstract

The advancement of micro and nanotechnology has led to the manufacturing of miniaturized sensors with improved functionalities for highly sensitive point of care devices. This work is particularly focused on analysing cancer cells and the effect of a model drug on their survival rate. To that end, we developed a highly sensitive rolled-up micro-electrochemical impedance spectroscopy sensor, encapsulated into a microfluidic channel. The sensor was built by strain engineering of shapeable materials and with diameters close to the cell size to improve their sensitivity. To demonstrate the platform performance, we first carried out measurements with different electrode geometries using cell medium at different concentrations. We also performed measurements using cancer cell suspensions, obtaining distinct signals from single cells, cell clusters and cellular debris. Finally, cancer cells were treated with an anticancer drug (Camptothecin), at different concentrations, over the same period, and further analysed using the developed platform.

Keywords: electrical impedance spectroscopy; lab-in-a-tube; label-free impedimetric sensor; shapeable materials technologies; single-cell analysis

Corresponding authors: Aleksandr I. Egunov, Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, Leibniz IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstraße 20, 01069, Dresden, Germany; and Research Center for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes, Chemnitz University of Technology, Rosenbergstraße 6, 09126, Chemnitz, Germany, E-mail: aleksandr.egunov@main.tu-chemnitz.de. and Mariana Medina-Sánchez, Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, Leibniz IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstraße 20, 01069, Dresden, Germany; and Center for Molecular Bioengineering (B CUBE), Dresden University of Technology, Tatzberg 41, 01307, Dresden, Germany, E-mail: m.medina.sanchez@ifw-dresden.de

Funding source: German Research Foundation DFG SPP 1857 ESSENCE

Award Identifier / Grant number: KA5051/1-1 and ME4868/2-1

Acknowledgements

O.G.S. acknowledges financial support by the Leibniz Program of the German Research Foundation (SCHM 1298/26-1). M. Medina-Sánchez acknowledges financial support by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 853609). The authors warmly thank F. Hebenstreit for the biological experiment’s assistance. The support of the clean room team headed by R. Engelhard and the assistance in development of the experimental setups by the research technology department of IFW Dresden is greatly appreciated. We further thank C. Krien and I. Fiering for the deposition of metallic thin films, F. Striggow for SEM analysis.

Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: The work was financially supported by the German Research Foundation DFG SPP 1857 ESSENCE grant (KA5051/1-1 and ME4868/2-1).
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Received: 2022-04-26

Accepted: 2022-10-05

Published Online: 2022-10-24

Published in Print: 2022-12-16

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/freq-2022-0090

Keywords for this article

electrical impedance spectroscopy; lab-in-a-tube; label-free impedimetric sensor; shapeable materials technologies; single-cell analysis