"Benign Viruses Shine on the Silicon Assembly Line"
Very interesting development:
Taking over where nature left off, the professor, Angela M. Belcher, has induced the virus to produce, at last count, roughly 30 inorganic materials with semiconducting or magnetic properties. ...
Now she and her team report in the journal Science that they have selectively altered the DNA in their viruses to generate a variety of tiny wires made of magnetic and semiconducting materials. ...
"It's amazing," [Dr. Belcher] said. "Not only does the virus make this nice semiconductor wire at room temperature, but all the crystals are aligned." ...
"The entire field of nanoelectronics depends upon the ability to mass produce cost-effective components," said [William S. Rees Jr., director of the Molecular Design Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology], "and she has opened the door to this." ...
It is all a matter of affinity, molecular recognition and genetic programming, Dr. Belcher said. "We programmed the virus to grow a particular material at a particular length," she said. "Then we burned off the virus and were left with single-crystal semiconductor wires."
Taking over where nature left off, the professor, Angela M. Belcher, has induced the virus to produce, at last count, roughly 30 inorganic materials with semiconducting or magnetic properties. ...
Now she and her team report in the journal Science that they have selectively altered the DNA in their viruses to generate a variety of tiny wires made of magnetic and semiconducting materials. ...
"It's amazing," [Dr. Belcher] said. "Not only does the virus make this nice semiconductor wire at room temperature, but all the crystals are aligned." ...
"The entire field of nanoelectronics depends upon the ability to mass produce cost-effective components," said [William S. Rees Jr., director of the Molecular Design Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology], "and she has opened the door to this." ...
It is all a matter of affinity, molecular recognition and genetic programming, Dr. Belcher said. "We programmed the virus to grow a particular material at a particular length," she said. "Then we burned off the virus and were left with single-crystal semiconductor wires."
// 2/16/2004 
