Multichannel lens-free CMOS sensors for real-time monitoring of cell growth

Multichannel lens-free CMOS sensors for real-time monitoring of cell growth

A low-cost platform is proposed for the growth and real-time monitoring of biological cells. The main components of the platform include a PMMA cell culturemicrochip and a multichannel lens-free CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) / LED imaging system. The PMMA microchip comprises a three-layer structure and is fabricated using a low-cost CO2 laser ablation technique. The CMOS / LED monitoring system is controlled using a self-written LabVIEW program. The platform has overall dimensions of just 130 x 104 x 115 mm3. and can therefore be placed within a commercial incubator. The feasibility of the proposed system is demonstrated using HepG2 cancer cell samples with concentrations of 5000, 10 000, 20 000, and 40 000 cells/mL In addition, cell cytotoxicity tests are performed using 8, 16, and 32 mM cyclophosphamide.