The fusion of electronics with living systems poses major conceptual and practical challenges, yet, promises profound new applications in both fields. Amalgamation of electronic devices with biological processes should add the unique computing power, memory, and speed of electronics to the biochemical toolbox provided by nature. Concurrently, the harnessing of molecular biology to the assembly of electronic devices and circuits may modify the way such components are designed, implemented, and tested. Full exploitation of the proposed fusing between these foreign fields requires the establishment of bidirectional communication between living matter and electronic circuits. One direction of the information flow, the transduction of biochemical cues into electronic currents, has proven amenable by existing bio-sensors but the complementary direction, the conversion of electrical signals to biochemical ones, remains challenging. Inspired by biology, where pathways are directed by molecular recognition, we disclose here a generic electrical-to-biological transducer comprising a two state electronic device and a cell receptor engineered to bind the device exclusively in its “on” state. The electronic “on” and “off” signals of the device are converted this way to the bind-no bind jargon of cell communication. The power of the new interface is demonstrated by its harnessing to the triggering of a critical biological reaction, activation of T-cells, at a flip of an electrical switch.
Electrically controlled molecular recognition harnessed to activate a cellular response. Artzy-Schnirman A. et al., Nano Lett. 2011 Nov 9;11(11).