Application of high-density optical microwell arrays in a live-cell biosensing system

In this paper, we use optical imaging: fibers to fabricate a chemical and b iochemical sensor that utilizes the ability of living cells to respond to b iologically significant compounds. The sensor is created by randomly disper sing single MH 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells into an optically addressable fib er-optic microwell array such that each microwell accommodates a single cel l. The cells are encoded to identify their location within the array and to correlate changes or manipulations in the local environment to responses o f specific cell types. The entire array can be simultaneously measured, yie lding a rapid, repetitive, and high-density analysis method. (C) 2000 Acade mic Press.