“In combining a biological electronic device with CMOS, we will be able to create new systems not possible with either technology alone,” said Professor Ken 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 recognising specific molecules, giving chips the potential to taste and smell.”
In living systems, energy is stored in potentials across lipid membranes, with ATP transporting the energy from where it is generated to where it is consumed. Prof Shepard’s team packaged a CMOS circuit with an ATP harvesting ‘biocell’. In the presence of ATP, the system pumped ions across the membrane, producing an electrical potential which was harvested by the chip.
The ability to build a system that combines the power of solid state electronics with the capabilities of biological components has great promise, says the team. “You need a bomb-sniffing dog now,” Prof Shepard noted, “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.”
According to the team, the work provides new insight into a generalised circuit model. “We will now be looking at how to scale the system down,” Prof Shepard concluded.
