Sensors and Instruments for Probing Cells, Tissues Organs

摘要

Traditional measurement, monitoring and imaging instrumentation continue to play important roles in clinical care. Research is active in biomedical signal processing, artificial intelligence for clinical decision support and sophisticated micro-sensor fabrication. At the. same time there has been a shift in emphasis towards creation of new technologies for fundamental underpinning biological research. Discovery of the genetic basis of diseases, as a follow-on from the human genome project, and creation of novel approaches for treatment, depends upon increasingly sophisticated tools for sensing, analysis and data processing. Use of genetic findings in routine clinical practice requires tools that may be used routinely in hospitals or in the home. Future treatment technologies such as 'gene chips', gene therapy and drugs matched to individual needs will emerge. In addition, the more general study of cells, in terms of structure and function, continues to stimulate instrument developments. Laboratory culture of cells in 'bioreactors' to investigate influences of physical and chemical stimuli requires a diverse range of instruments, from the growing family of scanning probes and microscopes through to micro-biosensors and Cell and Tissue Optics. This field of Cellular Engineering promises means with which damaged or diseased tissues and organs may be repaired or replaced.