A team of researchers and engineers from Columbia University have used circuitry technology similar to those used in computer science to develop a new type of chip that allows bacteria to "listen" .
Specifically, the chip has been developed with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, that is, the same technology used for memories or microprocessors in current devices.
The objective of the research is to understand how “biofilms” come to form , which are nothing but complex communities of microbial cells that grow together on both living and inert surfaces. Finding out its evolution is key, since around 70% of microbial infections that humans suffer from are caused by these bacteria.
Unlike ordinary research techniques, the integrated circuit chip acts as a
active glass slide, becoming host to the bacteria colony , but also responding directly to molecular changes in the bacteria growing on it.
"We use this chip to listen to the conversations that take place in biofilms, but we are also trying to interrupt these conversations and thus paralyze the biofilm," says Lars Dietrich, assistant professor of biological sciences at Columbia University.
