Abstract
Live imaging inside the living tissues and cells has become possible, in recent years, owing to the advancement of microscopic technologies. On the other hand, techniques to handle and manipulate samples during live imaging have many issues to be overcome. Microfabrication technologies represented by MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) allow us to produce custommade miniaturized experimental systems at the micrometer to sub-micrometer scale, which is as same scale as tissues or cells. This review introduces studies of observation and manipulation of enzymes, motor proteins, roots and pollen tubes using microfabricated systems to show the merits on applying those technologies to biological assays. Finally, the review discusses advantages of microsystem-based bioexperiments in general and future prospects of combination with single molecule nano-manipulation technique and stereolithographic technology at the millimeter scale.
