High-content analysis of single cells using a wide-field imaging sensor

Electrochemical sensing systems have been utilized in biosensors because it is easy to integrate the electrodes and electric circuits on miniaturized devices. In contrast, it was hard to integrate photo-sensing systems consisting of advanced optical components (e.g., condensing lenses and optical filters) in small devices due to the difficulties in miniaturization and cost-cutting of those optical components. However, recent efforts overcame this technical barrier, and thus a huge number of two-dimensional (2D) photosensors are equipped in digital cameras and smartphones, and widely used around the world. Technical development of such photosensors led to creation of novel biosensing systems enabling rapid, sensitive, and easy detection of biomolecules and microorganisms. This article summarized our recent achievement on wide-field imaging-based biosensors in which complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors were used for detection of various biological objects. In particular, high content analysis of single cells based on the developed photo-biosensing systems is introduced.