Microwave biosensor dedicated to the dielectric spectroscopy of a single alive biological cell in its culture medium

Abstract

This paper presents a biosensor dedicated to the dielectric spectroscopy of a single and living biological cell in its liquid culture medium in the micro and millimeter wave ranges. This detector works in the near field and involves a capacitive gap to perform the electromagnetic sensing, while a microfluidic system has been developed and adapted to the RF circuit to precisely localize the single biological cell under study. Both capacitive and conductive contrasts of a living biological cell measured in its culture medium are accessible. A living B lymphoma cell has then been measured from 40 MHz up to 40 GHz, with a measured capacitive contrast of the order of several hundreds of attofarads.