Open Access

ARTICLE

Cantilever Arrays for Multiplexed Mechanical Analysis of Biomolecular Reactions

by Min Yue¹, Jeanne C. Stachowiak¹, Arunava Majumdar¹

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
2 Presently at Sandia National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551,USA
3 Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Labo-]ratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Corresponding author: majumdar@me.berkeley.edu

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics 2004, 1(3), 211-220. https://doi.org/10.3970/mcb.2004.001.211

Abstract

Microchips;ontaining arrays of cantilever beams have been used to mechanically detect and quantitatively analyze multiple reactions of DNA hybridization and antigen-antibody binding simultaneously. The reaction-induced deflection of a cantilever beam reflects the interplay between strain energy increase of the beam and the free energy reduction of a reaction, providing an ideal tool for investigating the connection between mechanics and chemistry of biomolecular reactions. Since free energy reduction is common for all reactions, the cantilever array forms a universal platform for label-free detection of various specific biomolecular reactions. A few such reactions and their implications in biology and biotechnology are discussed.

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