Patent ID: 8349611

Claim:
A resonant sensor for determining the presence, amount or binding kinetics of an analyte in a test medium, said sensor being operable under the influence of an activating force field and comprising: an active, deformable planar member; a passive, deformable planar member attached to said active, deformable planar member, forming a pliable, layered sensing element having flexural stiffness and a resonant flexural bending or extensional mode for analyte determination and at least one axis of symmetry; at least one substrate coupled to said layered sensing element by at least one flexible coupling element having a first end joined to said substrate and a second end joined to said sensing element, said substrate having a flexible portion and permitting said vibration of said sensing element; said layered sensing element being supported by said flexible portion of said substrate to which at least one of the planar members of said sensing element is connected, the flexible substrate portion having a bending modulus which is less than the sensing element bending modulus; and a capture agent for said analyte associated with at least one exterior surface site of said sensing element, said capture agent being one member of a specific binding pair and the other member of said specific binding pair being said analyte; said sensing element with associated capture agent being caused to vibrate at a determinable resonance frequency by said activating force field operating on said active, deformable planar member, said activating force field inducing in said sensing element a uniform bending moment or extensional force component that is substantially parallel or perpendicular to said at least one axis of symmetry.