BACTERIA which glow in the presence of certain chemicals could be tethered to silicon chips and used as highly sensitive detectors for explosives, pollutants and chemical warfare agents.
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee plan to detect photons of light, emitted by bacteria when they digest specific chemicals, with their "bioluminescent bioreporter integrated circuit"affectionately known as "critters on a chip". The number of photons produced by the bacteria is proportional to the concentration of the chemical which they "eat".
Mike Simpson, one of the designers of the chip, says that by genetically engineering the bacteria to digest specific substances, the chip could be used to look for low levels of pollutants, in medical diagnostic tests and to detect explosives and chemical weapons. In all these applications, the tiny devices would replace more expensive techniques and larger, more intrusive devices.
Simpson and his colleagues have not yet ...
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