The Madou laboratory at the University of California, Irvine has developed a new amplification technique that allows for the electrochemical detection of the amplification of DNA sequences. Compared to currently available optical detection technologies used to detect DNA amplification, this amplification technique may be combined with portable and low cost electrodes to detect DNA amplification. This amplification technique may be implemented onto a handheld device and may provide genotyping information under 20 minutes. This technique may also implement a novel and highly sensitive interdigitated electrode array made of carbon developed by the same lab. (more...)

Improved reliability of fingerprint authentication is achieved through a unique vascular fingerprint which increases accuracy and verifies liveness. (more...)

University researchers have developed methods to synthesize structured glassy carbon nanofibers inside the pores of a porous silicon template by carbonization and obtain free-standing nanofiber by dissolution of the porous silicon template. The carbon nanofibers adopt the shape and morphology of the porous silicon template. The carbon/porous silicon composites are robust, surviving repeated thermal and organic vapor adsorption cycles. The carbon nanocasting approach creates surfaces that: (a) have increased affinity for non-polar organic molecules such as toluene, leading to a 10× improvement in the sensitivity of the sensor; (b) have increased surface area relative to the template leading to greater capacity as an adsorbent; (c) are very stable; and, (d) uniformly cover the underlying silicon layer. (more...)

Pain assessment is essential and crucial to effective pain management in the clinical setting. Without adequate and continuous pain assessment, pain therapies may not be tailored to patient needs, and pain continues unrecognized, underestimated, and poorly controlled. Pain assessment has generally relied on patient self-report. Unfortunately, age, gender and racioethnicity of patients may affect clinical interpretation of patient verbal reports of pain and subsequent pain management. Importantly, self-report is not a viable option for infants, very young children and/or persons with cognitive, sensory, psychiatric or physical disabilities. The most common reason for the under-treatment of pain in U.S. hospitals is a failure of clinicians to assess pain and pain relief. Mismanagement of pain has resulted in morbidity, including hyperalgesia, somatization and poor neurofunctional outcomes. Inadequate control of procedurally-related pain in children contributes to conditioned anxiety and stress responses to future interventions and procedures, higher pain intensities and diminished analgesic effectiveness with subsequent procedures, noncompliance and avoidance of medical care, and predisposition to persistent or chronic pain states. Untreated pain may also contribute to morbidity and mortality by impeding recovery, exacerbating injury, preventing healing, prolonging hospitalization, and delaying treatment leading to death. In contrast, adequate pain management interventions have been demonstrated to reduce not only reported pain but also medication use, patient re-hospitalization rates and length of hospital stay. (more...)

   For in vitro measurements of ion channels, the ion channels typically are situated in lipid bilayers which are suspended at the interface between two chambers; ionic currents are measured when a bias voltage is applied between two chambers. In vivo studies of ion channels are typically performed with patch-clamp excision of membranes using micro-pipettes, a laborious, time-consuming process with low yield. In spite of this, these studies have yielded important information between structure and function of ion channels in biology. Although these naturally occurring biological nanopores are relatively weak in their structural durability and have a limited life-time, they are still intriguing candidates for sensing technology due to their sensitivity and specificity.    Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel sensor device that allows for the interrogation of a single ion channel nanopore. The device integrates lipid bilayers on semiconducting carbon nanotube networks with ion channel nanopores    This new sensor device measures the current when a ligand binds to the ion channel nanopore. This technology is easier to implement than the patch clamp excision of membranes. In addition, the fabrication of these devices is in principle compatible with printed circuit technology. (more...)

Conventional micro analytical systems typically involve integration of various material systems and device components: III-V photonic emitters, III-V or II-VI optical filters, polymer fluidic channels, silicon-based or III-V photodetectors and Si CMOS data processing units.  While the currently available large-scale systems have proven useful, miniaturization of these systems would greatly broaden the applications for this technology.In response to this challenge, investigators at University of California have developed a u-TAS fully integrated microspectrometer with a photon engine.  This u-TAS fully integrated microspectrometer is a ubiquitous optical microsystem platform which can perform point-of-care diagnostics, high throughput screening for diseases, bio-warfare agent detection, and environmental monitoring.  A miniaturizing system, usually called micro total analysis systems (u-TAS), is highly desirable for commercialization.  Miniaturization of these systems not only will reduce the physical size, which greatly improves the portability, but will also gain wide spread acceptance due to the significant reduction of reagent and sample consumption.  The investigators u-TAS fully integrated microspectrometer with a photon engine, in early trials has identified 3 different phosphor samples. (more...)

Rapid, efficient, and low cost detection and identification of microorganisms including pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and fungi is a challenge facing plant and animal health. Current technologies such as Q-PCR rely on multiple assays and amplification methods to identify bacteria and viruses. Traditional optical detection methods also require fluorescent markers. These multiple independent steps and tests increase the processing time and cost for detection and identification. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a technique that uses nanotechnology to electrically detect and identify bacterial and viral RNA sequences without the necessity of using enzymatic amplification methods or fluorescent markers. In cases where microbe densities are particularly low, the technique provides additional sensitivity that allows for the target molecules to be detected in small quantities. Furthermore, the technique may be scaled into large multiplexed arrays for high-throughput and rapid screening. The implementation is further able to differentiate closely related variants of a given bacterial or viral species or strain. This technique addresses the need for a quick, efficient, and inexpensive bacterial and viral detection and identification system. (more...)

Miniature, flexible, and transparent droplet-based pressure sensing device. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Davis campus have developed a miniature device for separating or detecting many different chemical species.  The device features an ion passage formed between a top and bottom containing discrete electrodes.  The low power consuming DC voltage-driven, hybrid device employs custom-tuned electric fields to manipulate ions for chemical analysis.  The device can be manufactured using low-cost microfabrication techniques. (more...)

The reconstitution of ion channels and transmembrane proteins in planar lipid bilayer membranes allow for functionality testing in highly controlled environments. Recent work with lipid bilayers formed from mechanically joined monolayers has shown their potential for wider technological applications, including automation and parallelization. Although fully automated formation and measurement of functional planar lipid bilayers is currently possible using the contacting monolayer technique; automated formation of such 'droplet' lipid bilayers having consistent and repeatable sizes, however, has not been demonstrated. Further, bilayer areas are highly sensitive to variations in mechanical positions and the bilayers themselves cannot withstand significant perfusion of adjacent solutions. (more...)

Methods for the preparation of long, dimensionally uniform, metallic nanowires that are removable from the surface on which they are synthesized. The methods include the selective electro-deposition of metal nanowires at step edges present on a stepped surface, such as graphite, from an aqueous solution containing a metal or metal oxide. Where a metal oxide is first deposited, the metal oxide nanowires are reduced via a gas phase reduction at elevated temperatures to metal nanowires. Alternatively, beaded or hybrid nanowires comprising a metal A into which nanoparticles of a metal B have been inserted may be prepared by first electrodepositing nanoparticles of metal B selectively along step edges of a stepped surface, capping these nanoparticles with a molecular layer of an organic ligand, selectively electrodepositing nanowire segments of metal A between nanoparticles of metal B and then heating the surface of the hybrid nanowire under reducing conditions to remove the ligand layer. In all three methods, the nanowires may be removed from the stepped surface by embedding the wires in a polymer film, and then peeling this film containing the embedded wires off of the stepped surface. (more...)

Recent years have brought a revolution in devices intended to provide a personalized interface between an individual’s brain and a computer using EEG signals. As these devices near readiness for broad commercial application, one shortcoming has surfaced: the lack of a proper calibration technique between the interface device and the highly individual electrical patterns of a user’s brain. Existing calibration techniques are cumbersome, time consuming, and unreliable. (more...)

The fidelity of detection in a biosensor is limited by the ability of the device to identify small quantities of analyte in the presence of much larger quantities of interfering molecules. Separation, preconcentration, and detection of the analyte are key aspects of the analysis, and the drive to decrease sample volumes and increase throughput has led to chip-based systems that combine these components within a volume of a few cubic micrometers. Electric fields, applied via external electrodes or photogenerated in a semiconducting matrix, are often employed to enhance biomolecular separation in such systems. For example, electroadsorption provides a means to concentrate a charged analyte on an electrode surface, and electrophoresis induces migration and separation of charged species. (more...)

There has been an increasing demand for highly sensitive bio- and chemical sensor devices. Optical and MEMS methods provide highly specific platforms; however, problems of scalability and cost have hindered their employability in real field applications. With the recent advancements in nanotechnology, integrated systems have been developed through the use of silicon nw-FETs. However, the low level of output signal in the design of these sensors limit their potential applications. (more...)

Explosives detection is critically important in many field settings (e.g., military facilities, minefields, crime scenes, and remediation sites) and has become a necessity for the safety of the general public (e.g., at airports and mass transit areas). As such, there remains a demand for inexpensive and reliable explosive sensors for identifying specific explosives. High explosives are considered to be organic and oxidizing, a relatively rare combination that makes them tractable for molecular recognition. Fluorescent polymers have thus had favorable success in their use as high explosive sensors. (more...)

The field of the invention generally relates to methods of constructing high surface area structures using photoresist patterning in combination with electrochemical polymer deposition.The methods described herein can be used to create structures for a wide variety of applications including, but not limited to, micro-reactors, electrodes, and sensors (e.g., biosensors). (more...)

Microfluidics is becoming one of the most rapidly growing supporting technologies for innovation in biosciences. Microfluidic technology promises benefits such as fast analysis and integration of multiple processing steps. However, microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices for disease diagnostics suffer from the weak link of sample preparation. Sample preparation is a major issue for diagnostic assays. Off-ship sample preparation requires expertise and equipment, which may not be readily available in resource-poor settings where the diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, or malaria are often prevalent. In addition, off-chip sample preparation may add considerable time and statistical variation to an assay. Membrane-based filters, the most common on-chip filtering mechanisms, have proven effective for single assays. However, for multiplexed analysis, the differential binding of biomarkers to the membrane material(s) prevents reliable diagnostics. Researchers at UC Berkeley are developing a low cost and easy to operate microfluidic sample preparation module that can be used for parallel diagnostics of multiple diseases. The module will take a sample of whole blood from an infected patient ranging in volume from just a few microliters (from a pin prick) to a few microliters, depending on the required statistical significance of the diagnostic assay. The processed blood sample will be outputted as plasma enriched in disease antigens and/or pathogenic nucleic acids for downstream amplification and detection. The module will not require any external reagents or off-chip sample manipulations. It can be operated on-site with minimal training, and will be made USB-compatible for easy power supply, data analysis, and storage. (more...)

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a novel microfluidic device that is capable of encapsulating cells at a very high efficiency. The device integrates impedance measurement with a novel on-demand droplet generation process to enable the selective generation of droplets that contain encapsulated cells only when a cell is present. This ensures that a high percentage of cells are encapsulated rather than droplets that do not contain cells. The device consists of two main components – the impedance sensor and the on-demand droplet generator. When the sensing electrodes of the impedance sensor detects a change in impedance caused by a cell, the cell is coupled with a droplet. (more...)

Diagnostic device for detecting malaria infection by blood sample testing. (more...)

There is growing interests in widespread monitoring of the health effects of airborne particulates in the general population as well as with industrial workers. To address this growing interest, low-cost, distributed particulate matter monitors are needed. Advanced MEMS-based particulate monitors have been developed, but detection limitations, temperature sensitivity, and power requirements continue to impede the broad, distributed application of these monitors. To address these limitations, UC Berkeley researchers have developed a substantially improved MEMS-based particulate matter monitor. In comparison to prior MEMS-based particulate monitors, this innovative Berkeley monitor uses different microfabrication methods, an alternate means of particulate deposition, novel microfluidic principles, and innovative components for filtration and condensation of airborne particulates. (more...)

Despite the numerous advantages inherent to dynamic bead-based microfluidic arrays, current microparticle trapping methods remain limited. There are currently two fundamental classes of microarrays: static and dynamic microarrays. Static microarrays consist of bio-molecules or chemicals immobilized on a static substrate. Alternatively, dynamic microarrays consist of bio-molecules or chemicals immobilized on mobile substrates, such as microparticle. To enable resettable microfluidic arrays, investigators at University of California at Berkeley have developed a novel reusable dynamic particle-based microarray – termed ‘Microfluidic Ping Pong’ (MPP). In contrast to current dynamic microarray techniques, this system can achieve (i) high-density/throughput microparticle trapping, (ii) microdevice resettability, and (iii) microparticle resettability. High-density trapping enables the acquisition of high numbers of data points (i.e. immobilized microparticle) from a single experiment, without sacrificing device ‘real-estate.’ Dynamic microarrays offer a superior platform due to several advantages compared to static microarrays, including faster reaction times due to larger surface areas of the microparticles, reduced background noise, and the ability to ‘mix-and-match’ particles corresponding to different screenings. Also, the constant mixing of solutions and particulate substrates in microfluidic channels results in faster reaction kinetics compared to the diffusion-based mixing of static systems. (more...)

Enzyme-based logic gates and their networks are recent developments in the field of biochemical information processing or biocomputing. Chemical logic gates mimic Boolean logic operations and are composed of chemical systems where the input and output signals are represented by concentrations of reactants and products, respectively. In particular, enzyme-based logic gates perform enzyme-biocatalyzed reactions resembling properties of Boolean logic systems. (more...)

Film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBARs) have been successfully commercialized in wireless front-end architecture as filters and duplexers. Similarly, silicon micromachined resonators have demonstrated excellent fQ values. Such devices have entered the market at HF and VHF ranges but several obstacles need to be overcome for capacitive resonators can be used at UHF frequencies. (more...)

UC San Diego researchers have developed an extensive platform of technologies based on porous silicon and/or polymeric nano-particles (“smart dust”). This platform encompasses multiple uses of nano-scale particles of porous silicon photonic crystals and takes advantage of the optical properties and other physical characteristics of this material. (more...)

The subject invention details a new surface plasmon-based sensing chip for array-based detection sensors for environmental monitoring; explosive detection; protein-protein interaction for genomics, pharmaceuticals, proteomics, disease discovery, and drug development; and physical parameter detection and monitoring, such as temperature, pressure, and surface deposition thickness (more...)

UC San Diego researchers have developed a simple, fast, and inexpensive sensor to detect trace amounts of explosives. A silicon polymer has been made into a "nanowire," 2000 times thinner than a human hair, that detects compounds such as picric acid, nitrobenzene (NB), dinitrotoluene (DNT) and trinitrotoluene (TNT) in air or seawater, or on surfaces. The sensor uses a thin film of photoluminescent polysilole that can also be sprayed on solid surfaces such as filter paper. Wherever the polymer comes into contact with molecules of explosive material, the fluorescent signal is quenched. This polysilole is stable in air, water, acids, common organic solvents and seawater-containing bioorganisms. TNT vapor in air is detected to 4 ppb (parts per billion) within 10 minutes; in sea water 50 ppb TNT and 6 ppb Picric Acid can be detected. Picric Acid is a substance commonly used in letter bombs. A hand or object that has been in contact with even tiny amounts of TNT may be readily imaged by pressing it to a piece of paper, spraying the paper with a 0.1 M toluene solution of the polymer, and observing the paper with the naked eye under a black light. (more...)

An ultrathin silicon nitride membrane has been fabricated and tested to be useable in temperatures in excess of 1000 °C with mass flux rates several orders of magnitude greater than existing technlogies. Pore shape and size are also tunable. (more...)

Scientists at the UC San Diego engineering school have theoretically modeled and experimentally fabricated a sensor device that avoids excitation of SPP waves via the Kretschmann configuration, with its limited effective numerical aperture and spatial resolution. The interrogation technique developed here overcomes the fundamental limitations of the grating coupled SPR sensors and may provide the building block for a massively parallel, high throughput instrument. Several advantages over existing approaches are use of the 0-order diffraction mode in readout of the SPR device, enabling large area, high resolution imaging for a large number of simultaneous measurements; use of nanohole scattering elements which reduces the SP propagation length enabling denser packing of sensing elements, thereby reducing the amount of analyte needed for a given measurement. Furthermore, the technique uses advantageous control of polarization in the excitation and readout of the SPR, which minimizes the line width and therefore maximizes the sensitivity of the instrument compared to demonstrated art. This invention is in early stage development, but is presently available for licensing. (more...)

Recent years have witnessed a significant interest in biological applications of novel solid-state nanomaterials. The unique physical properties of molecular or nanoscale solids when utilized in conjunction with the biomolecular recognition capabilities could lead to miniaturization of biological electronics and optical devices including sensors. (more...)

The invention is on new polymeric biomaterials. The new biomaterials were created by chemical synthesis with carbohydrates and amino acids as building blocks. The biopolymers have a specific alternating structure between carbohydrate and peptide units. (more...)

With the exception of light-based sensors, that change their light interaction properties, all sensors require some power in order to operate and provide a signal to a remote source. Light-based systems are readily blocked by typical obstructions such as buildings, trees, and vegetation. Some wireless systems require the use of on-board circuitry that temporarily charges up a battery or capacitor in the presence of an externally applied RF radiation, then use this electrical energy to re-transmit signal. This method is bulky, expensive, and can only transmit data at short distances. The need for a powered sensor/transmitter severely limits the deployment of such sensors in large scale such as over large geographic regions or as part of the civil infrastructure. (more...)

Microelectrical-mechanical systems (MEMS) are miniature mechanical devices intended to perform non-electronic functions such as sensing or actuation. These devices are typically built from silicon using lithographic techniques borrowed from the semiconductor industry. This manufacturing technique is expensive and limited. Furthermore, almost all micromachined devices must eventually be placed in a protective housing so that electrical connections can be made to the devices, and to protect the devices. This is troublesome for MEMS devices because they are fragile and so extreme care must be taken to move them from their fabricated substrates (e.g., wafers) to micro-electronic packages. It is well known that 60%-80% of the final cost for a MEMS device is from the costs associated with packaging. (more...)

UC Berkeley researchers have previously presented a unique label-free method to detect biomolecular binding based on impedance changes using microparticles or nanoparticles in microfluidic channels. This method requires no florescent labeling of analyte and allows a simple readout at a given frequency. This demonstrated microfluidic integration of the nanocavity system is also advantageous, allowing easy introduction of analyte solution and measurement buffer. Because the detection technique is essentially label-free and just depends on the specific binding of anibody-antigen, DNA-DNA, DNA-RNA, DNA-protein, antibody-small molecule, or antibody-cell, this invention could be used to diagnose virtually any disease. Researchers at UC Berkeley have expanded upon this innovation to demonstrate the ability to sequentially load different sized and different types of beads into a microfluidic channel. This has numerous applications, including the ability to successively capture smaller and smaller beads that otherwise would be impossible to capture. In addition, the cells can be mechanically lysed. (more...)

New medical systems are needed to weather the storm of rising healthcare costs. In particular, Point-of-Care (POC) technologies have the potential to keep costs at bay by enabling affordable preventative diagnostics and personal chronic disease monitoring. Many of these POC technologies use detection schemes that rely on the specific marking of target analyte with labels, such as catalytic enzymes, optical markers or magnetic beads. The latter are very useful as labels for bio-assay applications because a) cells exhibit few if any magnetic properties, b) signals from magnetic beads are stable with time, c) magnetic detection functions regardless of the opacity of the sample, and d) magnetic labeling provides added functionality such as magnetic filtration and manipulation. Integrated detection of magnetic beads has been demonstrated using MR spin valves. Researchers at the University of California have developed a fully integrated system capable of detecting single super-paramagnetic beads using CMOS. The system greatly simplifies detection protocol complexity and reduces overall system cost. (more...)

Photodetection, especially for fluorescence applications, requires various optics including lenses and filters. The optics surrounding the detection and illumination system are complex and can often weigh more than the photodetector and illumination sources. Therefore in order to make such photodetection equipment mobile, much of the optics needs to be integrated and micro-sized. However that causes various microfabrication problems -- especially in yields and throughput. To address this situation, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new design for fluorescence detection subsystems. This new design integrates and miniaturizes the photodetection functionality and thereby makes it suitable for mobile application as well as efficient microfabrication. (more...)

Phase-shifting interferometers are optical phase sensors that can be used to measure fast, transient phenomena. However their commercial use has been limited due to their relatively high costs and the speed limitations on what these devices can measure. Conventional MEMS-based interferometers are costly because their parts are fabricated on separate wafers and then need to be assembled as well as aligned -- which are relatively slow, expensive, low yield steps. Moreover, some existing interferometer designs require a high temperature annealing fabrication step, and that heat is problematic for integrating electronic components. In order to broaden the market opportunities for high-speed interferometers, researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new MEMS-based interferometer design. In comparison to previous interferometers, this design can measure faster phenomena as well as enter more cost-constrained and portable markets. With it simpler and higher yield fabrication process, this micro-machine, batch processed interferometer is expected to be 10-times less expensive than previous designs. The Berkeley research team has fabricated prototypes of this interferometer that can make 20 to 30 measurements per second, and has conducted tests in which the device has continuously capture more than 500 profile measurements of a transient phenomenon over 21.7 seconds. (more...)

Conventional flow cytometry has made valuable contributions to cancer diagnosis and management as well as to the understanding of fundamental cancer cell biology. Flow cytometry is used routinely in the clinical diagnosis of the hematologic malignancies; in tumor immunology to define lymphocyte subsets; and in basic research to facilitate cell separations based on the expression of particular proteins or phospholipids at the cell-surface. However, it does require a large sample of cells and usually requires labeling. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed a new approach to flow cytometry; the researchers call it "NanoCytomerty." The novel technology uses an integrated microfluidic chip which can adapt to sort cancer and other types of cells based on their cell-surface protein expression. The technology allows for significant improvements over conventional flow cytometry, because the system permits label free signal detection, extreme reproducibility and sensitivity, and cell separations using very few cells. By developing a more sensitive technique to perform cell separations, in addition to one that relies on fewer cells, we anticipate that NanoCytometry could provide an important new technology applicable to cancer. For instance, NanoCytometry could be used to improve upon physicians' ability to detect minimal residual disease states and upon a scientist's ability to study cell populations that occur in very small numbers such as stem cells. Nanocytometry builds upon previous work which includes an all-electronic technique for detecting the binding of unlabeled antibody-antigen pairs (US Patent Appl. # 10/056,103). (more...)

There is growing interest in using arrays of hollow microneedles to implement minimally invasive, low-cost, highly integrated systems for delivering drugs to, or sampling fluids from humans. However most existing methods for fabricating microneedles are cost prohibitive and/or have design limitations. For example, existing fabrication concepts for hollow in-plane microneedles can only arrange the needles in one dimension which puts constraints on their flow capacity and rate. Likewise, lower costs methods using electroplated metals result in microneedle arrays that are not rigid enough for most applications. To solve this problem, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed several low-cost methods for fabricating arrays of hollow, out-of-plane microneedles. These methods are based on using materials that are initially in fluid form such as curable polymers, polymer solutions or melts. The methods can be controlled to create microneedles with different geometries. (more...)

Fluorescence detection is widely used as a bioassay technique in laboratories. If this technique could be functionally?integrated in a microsystem format, then its lower cost and improved portability would broaden the applications of fluorescence for both bioassay and chemical detection in the field as well as in the lab. To address this opportunity, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have developed a microsystem and corresponding fabrication process that integrates photodetection, filtering and excitation. This Si-based microsystem performs the same functions as a bench-top fluorescence detection system by replacing the bench-top system's gas laser with a thin-film LED, and replacing the bench-top's grating, bulk glass and/or DBR filter with a single-layer thin-film filter. In comparison to bench-top systems, this fluorescence detection microsystem is less expensive and more compact, making it better-suited to applications in the field. The Berkeley microsystem combines all of its nondisposable components on a single substrate, and hygienically isolates its disposable microfluidic component, enabling the device to sequentially evaluate many samples. Moreover, multicolored LEDs with matching filters can be integrated in a single microsystem, enabling it to simultaneously perform multiple bioassays and chemical detections. (more...)

 Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is an optical analysis technique that can provide molecular identification and quantification by recording a spectrum that displays characteristic vibrational fingerprints of molecules or parts of molecules. SERS is potentially among the most sensitive analysis techniques with molecular identification capabilities and has the benefit of extraordinary sensitivity. In the past, however, SERS platforms have been highly technical preparations. (more...)

Electrochemical biosensors based on nanotubes or nanowires could be widely used in diagnostic, research, and security applications. However, the problems associated with functionalizing and placing these nano-elements on a device have prevented the practical application of this technology. University of California scientists have developed a simple one-step methodology for the synthesis of functionalized nanowires that act as biosensors. Nanowires of 100 to 200 nm have been tested that can accurately sense the presence of target biological molecules through changes in conductance when the target binds to the wire's functional ligands (more...)