University of Pittsburgh and Nanomix researchers have used carbon nanotubes network field-effect transistors as biodetectors of mutations in genes causing hereditary diseases.

The method is an “important step toward low-cost, low-complexity, highly sensitive and accurate molecular diagnostics,” the authors say.

Reference: Label-free detection of DNA hybridization using carbon nanotube network field-effect transistors, PNAS, January 24, 2006, vol. 103, no. 4, 921-926 (open-access article).