Nanosensor arrays tagged posts

MIT chemical engineers have developed arrays of carbon nanotube sensors that can detect single protein molecules as they are secreted from cells. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

Modified carbon nanotubes could be used to track protein production by individual cells eg tracking viral infection, monitoring cell manufacture of useful proteins, or revealing food contamination. “We hope to use sensor arrays like this to look for the ‘needle in a haystack,'” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. “These arrays represent the most sensitive molecular sensing platforms that we have available to us technologically. You can functionalize them so you can see the stochastic fluctuations of single molecules binding to them.”

Strano’s lab has previously dev...