Silicon Chips in Living Cells

       Many people have ever seen the movie "Terminator". In near future, we may see a real hybrid human-robot on the street!!!

       Researches from Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona, Spain have demonstrated for the first time how to integrate nanoelectronics into living cells.  (Ref>> SMALL). At First, they  fabricated different batches of polysilicon chips (a typical semiconductor material) and then they selected one with lateral dimensions between of 1.5-3 µm and a thickness of 0.5 µm. It should be note that this dimension is much bigger than nano chip that using 22 nm process technology.  Cells for the study were taken from an amoeba (Dictyostelium discoideum) and human HeLa (stem cells from the famous Henrietta Lacks line). The chips were implanted using many techniques such as lipofection, phagocytosis, and microinjection. After inserting the chips into the live cells, the researchers made sure that the cells remained alive and healthy. They found that over 90% of the chip-containing containing HeLa cell population remained viable 7 days after lipofection. The main applications of this chips will be the study of individual cells. The technology could significantly aid early detection of diseases and new cellular repair mechanisms.

Ref>> http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=15292.php