Development of a MEMS-Based Biosensor for Analyzing the Bio-Electrical Characteristics of Colon Cancer Cells

Investigating the bioelectrical characteristics of individual cells can provide important information about many aspects of cellular processes and their roles in general health and disease conditions. Comprehending these attributes at the cellular level facilitates a more intricate comprehension of physiological mechanisms and creates novel opportunities for disease detection, management, and even averting. It's fascinating to observe how new methods and technological developments are allowing us to learn more about the intricacies of cellular biology and how they relate to human health. Since cancer cells have slightly lower capacitance and resistance values, the bioelectrical properties could be used as biomarkers for early cancer identification. Measurements were conducted on the capacitance and resistance of individual normal cell lines (IEC-6), and highly-invasive malignant (SW480) colon cancer cells using MEMS sensors during simulations. Normal cell resistance is 318kΩ, while normal cell capacitance is 8.12nF. These values differ from those of cancer cells, which have variable resistance and capacitance values (246kΩ and 3.91nF for SW480). At a frequency range of 200 Hz to 2 MHz significant difference is observed in impedance magnitude response values between normal cells (7.7 MΩ to 62kΩ) and cancer cells (7.1 MΩ to 54.9kΩ).