Researchers unveil first biologically powered 'cyborg' computer chip and say it could be able to taste and smell
Researchers unveil first biologically powered 'cyborg'
computer chip and say it could be able to taste and smell
Columbia University developed a biochip with living and
nonliving systems
CMOS integrated circuit with an ATP-harvesting biocell
for prototype
Performing on a molecular level, able to isolate the
desired function
By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 15:27 EST, 7 December 2015 | UPDATED: 16:17
EST, 7 December 2015
For the first time, scientist have developed an
electronic chip made of both biological and solid-state components.
It could lead to a new generation of 'cyborg' chips
blending senses such as taste or smell with traditional electronic components.
They combined solid-state complementary
metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit with an artificial lipid
bilayer membrane made of ATP-powered ion pumps to create a 'biochip'.
For the first time,
scientist have developed an electronic chip that is both biological and
solid-state components.
This breakthrough study was led by Ken Shepard, Lau
Family Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of biomedical
engineering at Columbia University.
'In combining a biological electronic device with CMOS,
we will be able to create new systems not possible with either technology
alone,' said Shepard.
'We are excited at the prospect of expanding the palette
of active devices that will have new functions, such as harvesting energy from
ATP, as was done here, or recognizing specific molecules, giving chips the
potential to taste and smell.'
'This was quite a unique new direction for us and it has
great potential to give solid-state systems new capabilities with biological
components.'
Although there has been a breakthrough with these new
findings, Shepard said that CMOS solid-state electronics do not have the
ability to perform or replicate certain functions of living systems, such as
tasting, smelling and the use of biochemical energy sources.
Living systems perform these functions with their own
versions of electronics based on lipid membranes and ion channels and pumps,
which act as a kind of biological transistor.
Charge is produced in ion form, which carries energy and
information, and the ion channels control the flow of ions across cell
membranes.
Solid-state systems, such as those in computers and communication
devices, use electrons; their electronic signaling and power are controlled by
field-effect transistors.
Living systems store energy in potentials across lipid
membranes, but in this case they were create through the action of ion pumps.
ATP is used to transport energy from where it is
generated to where it is consumed in the cell.
The team packaged a CMOS integrated circuit with an
ATP-harvesting 'biocell' to begin building the prototype.
In the presence of ATP, the system pumped ions across the
membrane, which produced an electrical potential harvested by the CMOS
integrated circuit (IC).
'We made a macroscale version of this system, at the
scale of several millimeters, to see if it worked,' Shepard said.
'Our results provide new insight into a generalized
circuit model, enabling us to determine the conditions to maximize the
efficiency of harnessing chemical energy through the action of these ion pumps.
We will now be looking at how to scale the system down.'
By performing this on a molecular level, scientists where
able to isolate the desired function and interface this with electronics.
'We don't need the whole cell,' Shepard explains.
'We just grab the component of the cell that's doing what
we want.'
'For this project, we isolated the ATPases because they
were the proteins that allowed us to extract energy from ATP.'
The ability to build a system that combines the power of
solid-state electronics with the capabilities of biological components has
great promise.
'You need a bomb-sniffing dog now, but if you can take
just the part of the dog that is useful -- the molecules that are doing the
sensing -- we wouldn't need the whole animal,' says Shepard.
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