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A bacteriophage, also known informally as a phage, is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea. The term was derived from "bacteria" and the Greek φαγεῖν, meaning "to devour". Bacteriophages are composed of proteins that encapsulate a DNA or RNA genome, and may have structures that are either simple or elaborate. Their genomes may encode as few as four genes and as many as hundreds of genes. Phages replicate within the bacterium following the injection of their genome into its cytoplasm.
Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential, as a measurable and quantitative phenomenon, and identifiable chemical change, with either electrical potential as an outcome of a particular chemical change, or vice versa. These reactions involve electrons moving between electrodes via an electronically-conducting phase, separated by an ionically-conducting and electronically insulating electrolyte.
A galvanic cell or voltaic cell, named after the scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, respectively, is an electrochemical cell in which an electric current is generated from spontaneous reactions. A common apparatus generally consists of two different metals, each immersed in separate beakers containing their respective metal ions in solution that are connected by a salt bridge.
A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of a chemical substance, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. The sensitive biological element, e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc., is a biologically derived material or biomimetic component that interacts with, binds with, or recognizes the analyte under study. The biologically sensitive elements can also be created by biological engineering. The transducer or the detector element, which transforms one signal into another one, works in a physicochemical way: optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, electrochemiluminescence etc., resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element, to easily measure and quantify. The biosensor reader device connects with the associated electronics or signal processors that are primarily responsible for the display of the results in a user-friendly way. This sometimes accounts for the most expensive part of the sensor device, however it is possible to generate a user friendly display that includes transducer and sensitive element. The readers are usually custom-designed and manufactured to suit the different working principles of biosensors.
A silver chloride electrode is a type of reference electrode, commonly used in electrochemical measurements. For environmental reasons it has widely replaced the saturated calomel electrode. For example, it is usually the internal reference electrode in pH meters and it is often used as reference in reduction potential measurements. As an example of the latter, the silver chloride electrode is the most commonly used reference electrode for testing cathodic protection corrosion control systems in sea water environments.
Dielectric spectroscopy measures the dielectric properties of a medium as a function of frequency. It is based on the interaction of an external field with the electric dipole moment of the sample, often expressed by permittivity.
An ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) is a field-effect transistor used for measuring ion concentrations in solution; when the ion concentration (such as H+, see pH scale) changes, the current through the transistor will change accordingly. Here, the solution is used as the gate electrode. A voltage between substrate and oxide surfaces arises due to an ion sheath. It is a special type of MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor), and shares the same basic structure, but with the metal gate replaced by an ion-sensitive membrane, electrolyte solution and reference electrode. Invented in 1970, the ISFET was the first biosensor FET (BioFET).
A Coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes. The Coulter principle, and the Coulter counter that is based on it, is the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing.
Local field potentials (LFP) are transient electrical signals generated in nervous and other tissues by the summed and synchronous electrical activity of the individual cells in that tissue. LFP are "extracellular" signals, meaning that they are generated by transient imbalances in ion concentrations in the spaces outside the cells, that result from cellular electrical activity. LFP are 'local' because they are recorded by an electrode placed nearby the generating cells. As a result of the Inverse-square law, such electrodes can only 'see' potentials in spatially limited radius. They are 'potentials' because they are generated by the voltage that results from charge separation in the extracellular space. They are 'field' because those extracellular charge separations essentially create a local electric field. LFP are typically recorded with a high-impedance microelectrode placed in the midst of the population of cells generating it. They can be recorded, for example, via a microelectrode placed in the brain of a human or animal subject, or in an in vitro brain thin slice.
Focused Impedance Measurement (FIM) is a recent technique for quantifying the electrical resistance in tissues of the human body with improved zone localization compared to conventional methods. This method was proposed and developed by Department of Biomedical Physics and Technology of University of Dhaka under the supervision of Prof. Khondkar Siddique-e-Rabbani; who first introduced the idea. FIM can be considered a bridge between Four Electrode Impedance Measurement (FEIM) and Electrical impedance Tomography (EIT), and provides a middle ground in terms of simplicity and accuracy.
Laszlo Bela Kish is a physicist and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University. His activities include a wide range of issues surrounding the physics and technical applications of stochastic fluctuations (noises) in physical, biological and technological systems, including nanotechnology. His earlier long-term positions include the Department of Experimental Physics, University of Szeged, Hungary, and Angstrom Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden (1997–2001). During the same periods he had also conducted scientific research in short-term positions, such as at the Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Cologne, National Research Laboratory of Metrology, University of Birmingham, and others.
Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a technology to deionize water by applying an electrical potential difference over two electrodes, which are often made of porous carbon. In other words, CDI is an electro-sorption method using a combination of a sorption media and an electrical field to separate ions and charged particles. Anions, ions with a negative charge, are removed from the water and are stored in the positively polarized electrode. Likewise, cations are stored in the cathode, which is the negatively polarized electrode.
Bioelectrogenesis is the generation of electricity by living organisms, a phenomenon that belongs to the science of electrophysiology. In biological cells, electrochemically active transmembrane ion channel and transporter proteins, such as the sodium-potassium pump, make electricity generation possible by maintaining a voltage imbalance from an electrical potential difference between the intracellular and extracellular space. The sodium-potassium pump simultaneously releases three sodium ions away from, and influxes two potassium ions towards, the intracellular space. This generates an electrical potential gradient from the uneven charge separation created. The process consumes metabolic energy in the form of ATP.
Fluctuation-enhanced sensing (FES) is a specific type of chemical or biological sensing where the stochastic component, noise, of the sensor signal is analyzed. The stages following the sensor in a FES system typically contain filters and preamplifier(s) to extract and amplify the stochastic signal components, which are usually microscopic temporal fluctuations that are orders of magnitude weaker than the sensor signal. Then selected statistical properties of the amplified noise are analyzed, and a corresponding pattern is generated as the stochastic fingerprint of the sensed agent. Often the power density spectrum of the stochastic signal is used as output pattern however FES has been proven effective with more advanced methods, too, such as higher-order statistics.
A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, is a high-capacity capacitor with a capacitance value much higher than other capacitors, but with lower voltage limits, that bridges the gap between electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable batteries. It typically stores 10 to 100 times more energy per unit volume or mass than electrolytic capacitors, can accept and deliver charge much faster than batteries, and tolerates many more charge and discharge cycles than rechargeable batteries.
A biotransducer is the recognition-transduction component of a biosensor system. It consists of two intimately coupled parts; a bio-recognition layer and a physicochemical transducer, which acting together converts a biochemical signal to an electronic or optical signal. The bio-recognition layer typically contains an enzyme or another binding protein such as antibody. However, oligonucleotide sequences, sub-cellular fragments such as organelles and receptor carrying fragments, single whole cells, small numbers of cells on synthetic scaffolds, or thin slices of animal or plant tissues, may also comprise the bio-recognition layer. It gives the biosensor selectivity and specificity. The physicochemical transducer is typically in intimate and controlled contact with the recognition layer. As a result of the presence and biochemical action of the analyte, a physico-chemical change is produced within the biorecognition layer that is measured by the physicochemical transducer producing a signal that is proportionate to the concentration of the analyte. The physicochemical transducer may be electrochemical, optical, electronic, gravimetric, pyroelectric or piezoelectric. Based on the type of biotransducer, biosensors can be classified as shown to the right.
As with any material implanted in the body, it is important to minimize or eliminate foreign body response and maximize effectual integration. Neural implants have the potential to increase the quality of life for patients with such disabilities as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, epilepsy, depression, and migraines. With the complexity of interfaces between a neural implant and brain tissue, adverse reactions such as fibrous tissue encapsulation that hinder the functionality, occur. Surface modifications to these implants can help improve the tissue-implant interface, increasing the lifetime and effectiveness of the implant.
A field-effect transistor-based biosensor, also known as a biosensor field-effect transistor, field-effect biosensor (FEB), or biosensor MOSFET, is a field-effect transistor that is gated by changes in the surface potential induced by the binding of molecules. When charged molecules, such as biomolecules, bind to the FET gate, which is usually a dielectric material, they can change the charge distribution of the underlying semiconductor material resulting in a change in conductance of the FET channel. A Bio-FET consists of two main compartments: one is the biological recognition element and the other is the field-effect transistor. The BioFET structure is largely based on the ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET), a type of metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) where the metal gate is replaced by an ion-sensitive membrane, electrolyte solution and reference electrode.
Impedance microbiology is a microbiological technique used to measure the microbial number density of a sample by monitoring the electrical parameters of the growth medium. The ability of microbial metabolism to change the electrical conductivity of the growth medium was discovered by Stewart and further studied by other scientists such as Oker-Blom, Parson and Allison in the first half of 20th century. However, it was only in the late 1970s that, thanks to computer-controlled systems used to monitor impedance, the technique showed its full potential, as discussed in the works of Fistenberg-Eden & Eden, Ur & Brown and Cady.
Spectroelectrochemistry (SEC) is a set of multi-response analytical techniques in which complementary chemical information is obtained in a single experiment. Spectroelectrochemistry provides a whole vision of the phenomena that take place in the electrode process. The first spectroelectrochemical experiment was carried out by Theodore Kuwana, PhD, in 1964.
References
- ↑ "The SEPTIC patent description in PATENTSCOPE".
- 1 2 "Feature article on SEPTIC in The Economist magazine". 14 April 2005.
- ↑ "M. Dobozi-King, S. Seo, J.U. Kim, R. Young, M. Cheng, L.B. Kish, "Rapid detection and identification of bacteria: SEnsing of Phage-Triggered Ion Cascade (SEPTIC)", Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry5 (2005) 3–7" (PDF).
- ↑ "L.B. Kish, M. Cheng, J.U. Kim, S. Seo, M.D. King, R. Young, A. Der, G. Schmera, "Estimation of the detection limits of the phage-invasion based identification of bacteria", Fluctuation and Noise Letters5 (2005) L105-L108" (PDF).
- 1 2 "J.R. Biard, L.B. Kish, "Enhancing the sensitivity of the SEPTIC bacterium sensing method by concentrating the phage-infected bacteria via DC electrical current", Fluctuation and Noise Letters5 (2005) L153-L158" (PDF).
- 1 2 Gabor Schmera; Kish (2010). "G. Schmera, L.B. Kish, "Bacteria Identification by Phage Induced Impedance Fluctuation Analysis (BIPIF)", US Navy patent pending; to be published". arXiv: 1004.0147 [physics.ins-det].
- ↑ "Featuring SEPTIC in Nanotechwire".