Science Advances: Nanoelectronic sensors that simultaneously measure the electrical and mechanical activity of heart cells

Using a suspended nanowire, a team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts has for the first time created a miniature sensor that can simultaneously measure electrical and mechanical cell responses in heart tissue, promising for heart disease research, drug testing and regenerative medicine

Hongyan Gao, a phD student in electrical and computer engineering (ECE), the lead author of the paper published online in the journal Science Advances, describes the invention as "a new tool to improve cardiac research that has the potential to gain cutting-edge applications in heart disease experiments

Since cells are the basic functional elements of biology, their mechanics and electrical behavior are two key attributes that indicate the state of cells, so they are of great significance

"A comprehensive assessment of the state of cells requires knowledge of both mechanical and electrical properties," said Yao Jun, head of the research team, an assistant professor at ECE and an associate professor of

The sensor consists of

The study completes the goal

"In addition to developing integrated biochips, our next step is to integrate nanosensors into stand-alone scaffolds to provide in vitro innervation for deep tissue studies," Yao said

Yao said the concept of incorporating multiple sensing functions in a single device will also broaden the capabilities

Assistant professors of mechanical and industrial engineering, Sun Yubing and Du Xian, also contributed

Article title

Bioinspired two-in-one nanotransistor sensor for the simultaneous measurements of electrical and mechanical cellular responses