THE USE OF MICRO-OPTICAL COMPONENTS IN BIOLOGY
Averina NICOLAE, Alina BUŢU, Manuela SIDOROFF
National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, 0630031, Splaiul Independentei 296, Bucharest, Romania
Abstract. Micro-optical biosensors are used mainly in medical applications for real-time assaying of blood components (e.g. glucose blood concentration for diabetics). Depending on their construction principle one can perform less invasive in vivo measurements or, with the aid of a lab-on-a-chip miniaturized device, several metabolites could be measured simultaneously. For meeting all the demands imposed to a sensor with biological applications, tbe sensing material, usually an enzyme or an antibody that links specifically to its target molecule, must be successfully immobilized on the surface of the biosensor. The techniques of immobilization reviewed herein vary from mild physical incorporation to covalently binding the sensing molecule to the sensor surface, but the final choice is always based on trial-and-error type experiments. An example of the steps performed to achieve the chemical immobilization of a biological molecule to a PDMS matrix is provided.