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  • Nano "Wiretap" Spies On Cells 2010 Aug 13

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    A new nanotech "wiretap" can enter living cells and monitor their activities in real time, scientists say. Charles Lieber quoted.

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    Nano "Wiretap" Spies on Cells 2010 Aug 13

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    A new nanotech "wiretap" can enter living cells and monitor their activities in real time, scientists say. Charles Lieber quoted.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    144 views11 pages

    Nano "Wiretap" Spies On Cells 2010 Aug 13

    Uploaded by

    Brian O'Shea
    A new nanotech "wiretap" can enter living cells and monitor their activities in real time, scientists say. Charles Lieber quoted.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 11

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    A new nanowire transistor attached to a cell


    (pictured) may "wiretap" biological
    functions, scientists say.
    PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY
    S C I E N C E /A A A S

    Nano "Wiretap" Spies on Cells


    Martin's Potato Rolls
    OPEN
    A Very Merry Martin's Giveaway
    Tiny transistor "listens in" on crucial biological functions, study says.

    BY B R I A N H A N DW E R K , F O R N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C N E W S

    PUBLISHED AUGUST 13, 2010


    • 2 MIN READ

    A new nanotech "wiretap" can enter living cells and monitor their activities
    in real time, scientists say.
    :
    Scientists used silicon nanowires to create hairpin-shaped conducting
    transistors that are smaller than a typical virus. The transistors are able to
    float freely inside the cells and "listen in" on crucial biological functions.

    When put to the test inside cultured chicken heart cells, the transistors
    recorded changes in the cells' heartbeat-driving electrical output.

    The new device is surprisingly noninvasive, said study leader Charles


    Lieber, a nanoscientist at Harvard University.

    That's because the wires were coated with cell membrane, so that target
    cells were enticed to fuse the wires with their own membranes and "suck"
    the wires inside naturally, Lieber said.

    (Related: "New Needle So Tiny It 'Injects' Meds Into Cell Organs.")

    The nanowire method also eliminates the need for needle-like insertions,
    which can harm cells.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Nano "Wiretap" May Offer New Insights Into Body

    If hooked up to an external computer, the tiny wires could potentially


    provide scientists with far more sophisticated analyses of human cells
    producing electrical impulses, such as beating heart cells or firing brain
    neurons (human-body interactive).
    :
    By adding protein receptors to the wires' ends, scientists could monitor
    real biological changes inside cells, such as the production of certain
    molecules.

    The nanotechnology may also help nanoscientists better understand how


    cells interact with toxins or drugs, Lieber said.

    "So this could be useful as a kind of tool for drug discovery or maybe just
    for understanding how neural circuits are working in a deeper manner
    than before."

    (Read more about brain mysteries in National Geographic magazine.)

    Nanotech Could Improve Medicine by "Light-Years"

    Future developments of the nanowire could further blur the line between
    biology and technology, Lieber added.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Several transistors could be made into a "circuit" inside the cell, he


    suggested, and neural or heart tissue could be grown around the circuit to
    combine the biological functions of the cells with the power of the digital
    circuit.

    "If you're thinking about neural implants, you might bridge hybrid tissue
    to this device and connect it to a prosthetic," he said. (See "Nanotech
    Clothing Produces Power From Motion.")
    :
    "You're going to be light-years beyond what's being done today."

    Nanowire research published today in the journal Science.

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