New Nanoscale Transistors Allow Sensitive Probing Inside Cells

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Contact: - Steve Bradt - 617. New Nanoscale Transistors Allow Sensitive Probing Inside Cells. Bioprobes offer first intracellular measurements with a semiconductor device Cambridge, Mass. Aug. Chemists and engineers at Harvard University have fashioned nanowires into a new type of V-shaped transistor small enough to be used for sensitive probing of the interior of cells. The new device, described this week in the journal Science , is smaller than many viruses and about one-hundredth the width of the probes now used to take cellular measurements, which can be nearly as large as the cells themselves. Its slenderness is a marked improvement over these bulkier probes, which can damage cells upon insertion, reducing the accuracy or reliability of any data gained.