A novel biosensor array has been developed to screen complex phenotypes obtained with directed evolution, a nanobiotechnology process of continuous genetic variation and phenotypic selection. This non-recombinant approach is used to design microorganisms populations with desired phenotypic characters. The long time of convergence of this approach can be reduced with an array of indipendent parallel sensors. The proposed device is a 96-microtiter plate with electronic sensors embedded in each well. In particular each well is a microbial fuel cell that works as a biosensor. So it allows us to track several qualitative properties of different bacterial strains or different substrates, through the current measurements. In this way we have a sensor that discriminates between many bacterial samples and measures the response of the cells to external input. We test the device measuring E.coli performances before and after the directed evolution protocol.

Microelectronics Group Home Page	Staff
Research Activities	Teaching Activity
Publications	Local Stuff
DEIS Home Page	University of Bologna Home Page