Integration of Discrete Sensors and Microelectrode Arrays Into Open Microfluidic Hanging-Drop Networks

This work presents a new versatile method to integrate discrete sensor chips into open-microfluidic hanging-drop networks. As proof of concept, we integrated an electrical-impedance-spectroscopy (EIS) sensor unit into a hanging-drop platform for monitoring the size of microtissues. The fabrication and assembly method enables the integration of a large variety of silicon-based sensors, such as chemical sensors, biosensors or microelectrode arrays (MEAs), in open-microfluidic hanging-drop networks to perform studies on three-dimensional microtissues.