Chapter 5
Bio-microelectromechanical Systems
(BioMEMS) in Bio-sensing
Applications-Bioluminescence Detection
Strategies
Ana Sofia Cerda-Kipper and Samira Hosseini
5.1 Introduction
Some living organisms have the inherent property of emitting bioluminescence (BL)
as a result of transforming chemical energy into light energy. It is produced by
highly exothermic, enzymatically catalyzed chemical reactions where a conversion
of the energy of chemical bonds to visible light takes place in organic compounds.
In such reactions, molecules commonly known as luciferins (substrate) are oxidized
thus generating electronically excited molecules which decay as a result of light
emission. BL can also be generated by an organism itself, or by bacteria in which
it cooperates in symbiosis with the host (Erzinger et al. 2017). Additionally, BL
measurements do not require immediate radiation as it maintains its emission over
time. In fluorescence, phototoxicity and autofluorescence can be challenging during
sampling, and is commonly not advised for in-vivo imaging as scattering and absorption of excitation photons present a serious complication. However, BL can achieve
non-invasive imaging in live samples making this technique highly favorable for
various applications, such as gene regulation, gene signaling, protein–protein interactions, drug assessment, cell-based assays, molecular imaging, and non-invasive
in-vivo imaging (Yeh and Ai 2019). When using BL in a detection system, there is
no need for an outside excitation light source, since this reaction is known to have
high quantum yield emission and to produce low background noise, which results
in high chance of detection and sensitivity. It also represents a supreme detection
strategy for miniaturized biosensing devices, by reducing weight, cost, dimension,
and complexity of such integrated systems (Caputo et al. 2017). Some of the latest
examples of the microfluidics BioMEMS that operate based on the BL detection
strategy are provided in this chapter. A thorough comparison between these devices
is provided in Table 5.1.
A. S. Cerda-Kipper · S. Hosseini (B)
School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
e-mail: samira.hosseini@tec.mx
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. Hosseini et al., BioMEMS, Lecture Notes in Bioengineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6382-9_5
111
Bio-microelectromechanical Systems
(BioMEMS) in Bio-sensing
Applications-Bioluminescence Detection
Strategies
Ana Sofia Cerda-Kipper and Samira Hosseini
5.1 Introduction
Some living organisms have the inherent property of emitting bioluminescence (BL)
as a result of transforming chemical energy into light energy. It is produced by
highly exothermic, enzymatically catalyzed chemical reactions where a conversion
of the energy of chemical bonds to visible light takes place in organic compounds.
In such reactions, molecules commonly known as luciferins (substrate) are oxidized
thus generating electronically excited molecules which decay as a result of light
emission. BL can also be generated by an organism itself, or by bacteria in which
it cooperates in symbiosis with the host (Erzinger et al. 2017). Additionally, BL
measurements do not require immediate radiation as it maintains its emission over
time. In fluorescence, phototoxicity and autofluorescence can be challenging during
sampling, and is commonly not advised for in-vivo imaging as scattering and absorption of excitation photons present a serious complication. However, BL can achieve
non-invasive imaging in live samples making this technique highly favorable for
various applications, such as gene regulation, gene signaling, protein–protein interactions, drug assessment, cell-based assays, molecular imaging, and non-invasive
in-vivo imaging (Yeh and Ai 2019). When using BL in a detection system, there is
no need for an outside excitation light source, since this reaction is known to have
high quantum yield emission and to produce low background noise, which results
in high chance of detection and sensitivity. It also represents a supreme detection
strategy for miniaturized biosensing devices, by reducing weight, cost, dimension,
and complexity of such integrated systems (Caputo et al. 2017). Some of the latest
examples of the microfluidics BioMEMS that operate based on the BL detection
strategy are provided in this chapter. A thorough comparison between these devices
is provided in Table 5.1.
A. S. Cerda-Kipper · S. Hosseini (B)
School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
e-mail: samira.hosseini@tec.mx
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. Hosseini et al., BioMEMS, Lecture Notes in Bioengineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6382-9_5
111