Monday, 21st March 2005 (3100 views)

A team of US scientists has created a new system using gold and nanotechnology that could help create a real-time biological sensor.

The system sees a live bacterial cell directed through a narrow channel to a pair of electrodes, which trap it with mild electrical currents.

This cell is then held while its electrical properties are measured and once done the cell is released.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison believe the chemicals on the surface of the cells could be wired in such a way that they could offer a basis for a real-time sensor.

The sensor could be used in various venues and establishments to discover biological agents possibly being used for a bioterror event and could help bring nanotechnology and biology together in novel ways.

Robert Hamers, a UW-Madison professor of chemistry and the senior author of the new report, told the Environment News Service: "We spend a lot of time making tiny little nanowires and things of that sort, and then we try to direct them in place, but it is very hard. However, bacteria and other biological systems can be thought of as nature's nanowires that can be easily grown and manipulated."

It is hoped the work could work as a basis for a new set of sensors that could detect dangerous agents including anthrax and also sound an alarm to call for help.

One key area the Wisconsin team are looking into is attaching microscopic gold particles to the shell of the bacteria, making it more like a nanoscale gold wire.

 

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