Multimedia Gallery
Live bacteria are directed down a channel and trapped by mild electric currents.
Live bacteria (faint dark streaks) are directed down a narrow channel to a pair of electrodes where they are trapped by mild electric currents. The bacteria, in effect, become "bio-junctions" and can be captured, interrogated and released at will. The use of living microbes in such a technology could form the basis for new ways of assembling nanodevices of all kinds. One potential application is as a real-time bio-sensor that could be used in public places to instantly detect and characterize the microbes that might be used in a bio-terror attack.
Credit: The Hamers Group/University of Wisconsin, Madison
Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.
Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.
Also Available:
Download the high-resolution version of the image. ()
Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.
Related story: Building a Better Nanoworld with Microbes