Bacterial Integrated Circuits

June 11, 2004 | Source: Science@NASA

University of Tennessee microbiologists have developed Bioluminescent Bioreporter Integrated Circuits (BBIC) that use chips to collect signals from specially altered bacteria to track pollution.

Now, with the support of NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research, they’re designing a version for sensing contaminants on spaceships.

Basic architecture of a BBIC

Basic architecture of a BBIC

Future uses could be as a bioterrorism monitor, household toxins detector, and diagnostic tool for doctors.