Chip Lets Scientists 'Eavesdrop' on Bacteria

Computer circuitry has been developed that can help researchers "listen in" on what colonies of bacteria are doing.

Researchers have been studying bacteria for years, looking for ways to prevent them from forming biofilms, or complex communities of bacteria, that are behind a significant percentage of infections in humans.

Previously, researchers could only observe a microbial, a tiny life form such as the bacterium, under a microscope in a controlled lab environment. This was essential to study of physical interaction between bacteria, but scientists wanted to know more. What, for instance, were they 'saying' to one another?

It is known that bacteria communicate with one another with the secretion of molecules, but unfortunately, traditional observation microscopes cannot see this interaction. But researchers from Colombia and Brown University have come up with a solution for this problem. They have developed a small computer chip that can "eavesdrop" on these chatty bacteria.

According to the researcher's work, which was published in Nature Communications, the chip is comprised of integrated circuit technology commonly seen in modern computers and smart-phones. This is the first time such technology has been applied in such an unusual way.

According to the study, the chip can serve as a standard glass slide for bacteria. While bacteria are observed under a microscope on the slide, the chip's circuits are simultaneously listening in on the bacteria "conversations," interpreting what it hears to make images of their molecular secretions.

If you have ever tried to draw what you heard going on in the room next door, that's essentially what these chips do for researchers who cannot put their own ears to the door.

Of course, the technology is not refined for conventional use just yet, but researchers explain in concluding statements that they one day hope to use these chips to monitor medical equipment prone to infection, such a catheters, warning medical technicians of a pending biofilm infection or preventing it entirely.

The study was published in Nature Communications on February 10.