Cell Concentration Systems for Enhanced Biosensor Sensitivity

Concentration processes for analytical systems based on different types of biosensors are very important for many applications. The sample conditioning is oriented to enhance the sensitivity or directly to make the detection or analysis possible. Processes that may be used for concentration and conditioning of original samples are very diverse, depending on applications that may range from clinical diagnostics to industrial processes control, and there are different strategies to achieve the final goal. This chapter presents an overview of the most important and relevant microscale techniques to produce an effective separation and concentration of cells, mostly bacterial cells. The main focus is put on the separation mechanisms as a tool for biosensing toward the development of complete devices in a lab-on-a-chip format by integrating the concentration, sample conditioning, and detection subsystems.