Cell Detection

"Optical, Electrical and Mechanical Technologies for Living Cellular Behaviors Monitoring" [ 下載 PDF ]

Ching-Yu Chang, Ying-Ting Chen, Meng-Ru Shen, Hsien-Chang Chang

Cells can sense chemical, biological and physical changes around their environment and regulate a proper response to different stimulus. It is an attractive topic for most researchers to elucidate different cell mechanisms based on the observation of cellular behaviors. People tried to induce various stimulations by using chemical reagents, immunological proteins or mechanical indentation, and then cellular behaviors e.g. intracellular molecules modulation, cell movement, secretion were associated with these stimulus. Based on the established correlations, cell physiology was investigated and several hypotheses were proved. In the past year, several monitoring techniques were developed to meet different requirements of cell measurement. In this article, we reviewed the reported techniques and compared their application limitations, respectively. The advantages of integration with different technologies for cellular behaviors were discussed. Also, the future trend of cellular monitoring was proposed based on the reviewed evidences.

Monitoring the Cellular Metabolism via Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy [ 下載 PDF ]

Po-Yen Lin, Tsung-Lin Kuo, Fu-Jen Kao

Oxidative phsphorylation is an important metabolic pathway that uses energy released by the oxidation of nutrients to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide reduced (NADH) participated in this process provides detectable fluorescence signal make it possible to utilize the non-invasive optical technique for further observation. In this study, fluorescence lifetime imaging microcopy (FLIM) is employed to monitor the function/conformational state of NADH associated with cellular metabolism in physiological (cell density, apoptosis, necrosis) and pathological states (inhibition of the electron transfer chain).

Nano/Microfluidic Systems for Analysis of a Single Cell and Subcellular Biomolecules [ 下載 PDF ]

Ren-Guei Wu, Chung-Shi Yang, Ching-Chang Cheing, Fan-Gang Tseng

Cells play a significant role as the fundamental unit of life, and studies on cell contribute to show the specific feature of life. Highly efficient and sensitive detection of the biomolecules or subcellular substances released from a single cell explains some important physiological processes. For single cell analysis not only complementary information of complex biological systems but also the actual functional interaction of biomolecules on the cellular and tissue structural basis can be revealed. Nano-microfluidic devices exhibit the possibility of integrating a variety of cellular or subcellular operations in the nanometre scale, it further allows the analysis with improved performance, throughput, parallelization and automation. For sensitive detection it is important to scale down the size of the channels so that they approach the relevant length scales of the molecules of interest.

Development of Electrochemical Cell-Activity Estimation Chip [ 下載 PDF ]

Chia-Yin Yuan, Shih-Yu Fu, Ching-Chou Wu

The development of drugs or biomaterials needs the assistance of massive animal experiments. Recently, people disapprove the behavior of forcing animals to suffer pains. If we can develop a cell-based biochip by integrating microfluidic control, cell culture and fabrication techniques of noninvasive sensors, the response of a living organism to extrinsic stimulations can be directly and fast realized. It will be helpful to minimize the animal experiments and become a hot issue in biotechnology fields. In the article, the principles, present development and practical applications of a cell-activity estimation chip are described.

Cellular Trafficking of Nano- or Micro-Scaled Particles [ 下載 PDF ]

Li-Wei Chu, Li-Chen Wu, Chung-Shi Yang

'Nano' may refer to the SI prefix representing 10^{−9. Nanometer stands for one billionth of a meter. The property of materials at nanoscale is markedly different from their counterparts at bulk levels due to the quantum effects. The development of nanotechnology emerges dynamically, and this technique has been applied widely, such as in nanomedicine. Once drug molecules enter the systemic circulation, they are generally distributed to the tissues, including normal and abnormal parts, leading to serious side effects. The application of nanomedicine, taking drug delivery as an example, is able to significantly reduce non-specific drug accumulation and prolong drug release. Additionally, drug encapsulated nanoparticles can be engineered to escape immune surveillance and to achieve higher targeting efficiency. In order to design nano-drugs with optimal performance, the understanding of the processes operated by cells on uptaking and removal of these nanoparticles becomes vital. The properties of nanoparticles, such as size, shape, surface charges, and surface modification with ligands, are discussed herein to give a clear picture on how cell responses to these novel ultra-small particles.}

The Influence of Biophysics to the Physiology of the Cells and Tissues [ 下載 PDF ]

Yeau-Ren Jeng, Chean-Ping Mao, Dar-Bin Shieh

Along with the advancement of analytic tools at nano scale precision, scientists gain access to the biophysical properties of the cells. Interpretation of physiology and pathology from interplay between cell, tissue and the physical mechanical alterations of its microenvironment become feasible. The nanotribology opened a new era in biomedicine from the bottom and now we know that cell-cell interaction and cell-extracellular matrix adhesion as well as the physical forces induce a complex biochemical process and gene expression regulation and ultimately contribute to the phenotype observed. This paper aimed to provide a comprehensive review of the nano/micro technologies developed for the measurement of biophysical properties of cells and the biophysical bases of the cell.

---

High-Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry [ 下載 PDF ]

Chung-Yu Chen, Maw-Rong Lee

High-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) is a new technique for gas phase ion separation at atmospheric pressure. The advantages of FAIMS are reducing the effect of background, improving signal-to-noise ratio and separation isobaric isomers. This paper introduces the theory of FAIMS and the parameters affecting the analytical results. The applications of FAIMS in the drugs analysis, isobaric isomer separation and proteomics are also reviewed.

---

Characterization and Application of Multifunctional Highly Ordered Mesoporous Carbon-Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposites [ 下載 PDF ]

Chun-hsien Huang, Pei-yi Chang, Ruey-an Doong

The fabrication and application of porous materials have recently received considerable attention because of their tunable pore structures and versatile nanocomposites. However, the amorphous phase in functionalized mesoporous materials hampers the application of these materials in the fields of photoelectronics, electrochemistry and biosensors. Recently, several promising results related to the fabrication and characterization of multifunctional highly ordered mesoporous nanocomposites incorporating metals or metal oxides have been documented, which extend the possible application of these materials to drug delivery, biomedical sensing and lithium ion battery. In this text, the fabrication and characterization of highly ordered mesoporous nanocomposites will be introduced by using carbon-titanium oxide as an example. In addition, the use of this material as the sensing element for energy and environmental application will be discussed.

---

Introduction to Solar Cell Inspection Technology in Industry [ 下載 PDF ]

Hung-Ming Tai, Hau-Wei Wang

The gross industrial output value of Taiwan from solar photovoltaic products has been the top 4 of the world rankings. The solar photovoltaic industry is expected to drive business opportunities on equipment and service industry in the future. The inspection technology plays two important roles in photovoltaic industry: controlling quality and exploring new recipes for solar cell production. However, compared to off-line analysis methods in laboratory, only a little industrial solar cell inspection technology and specification have been disclosed. Therefore, this article starts by analyzing problems in producing silicon solar cells, and then explains the reasons and technical points for each selected inspection method. For simplifying explanation, the inspection processes are segmented into four groups. They are incoming wafer inspection, wet etching starting/final inspection, antireflection film inspection, and printing result inspection. This article reviews their working principles, inspection standards and the prepared inspection standards for researchers' reference.

---

Recognition of Multi-Orientation Faces [ 下載 PDF ]

Chien-Liang Lin, Chun-Jen Chen

In all face recognition and face detection research, to enhance recognition accuracy with the increased speed is a rapid identification of common research goals. In order to achieve this goal, entering the image and pre-processing steps are very important. A good input image quality and pre-processing can greatly enhance the follow-up identification accuracy. In this paper, facial features are used to determine the rotation angle of the face. And using this angle to calculate the angle of the face is in order to make judgments for the recognition system. Face location can be identified with color region cuttings and oval face detections. Captured facial images, based on the use of features of vertical concentration, determine the angle and direction of rotation face. The simulation calculation method is developed for obtaining the face value of each feature point, and calculating three-dimensional model of a virtual face by volume spline interpolation. After detecting the rotation and adding the virtual database, we can achieve the best classification rate and maximum angle in the limited information.