World’s first biologically powered chip created

The researchers at Columbia Engineering have harnessed the molecular machinery of living systems to power an integrated circuit.

About Biologically powered chip :

• Chip is powered biologically by integrating a conventional solid-state complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit with an artificial lipid bilayer membrane containing Adenosine TriphosPhate (ATP)-powered ion pumps.

Adenosine TriphosPhate (ATP) :

• ATP is used to transport energy from where it is generated to where it is consumed in the cell.The advance has opened the door to creating new artificial systems that contain both biological and solid-state components.

While other groups have harvested energy from living systems, Shepard and his team are exploring how to do this at the molecular level, isolating just the desired function and interfacing this with electronics.