Columbia University Engineering Department researchers have, for the first time, harnessed living systems to power an integrated circuit using adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of life. The team integrated a conventional solid-state complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuit with an artificial lipid bilayer membrane containing ATP-powered ion pumps. The combination supports the possibility of entirely new artificial systems that contain both biological and solid-state components.

The integrated device may additionally be used to recognize specific molecules, giving chips the potential to taste and smell.

Living systems achieve taste and smell functionality with their own version of electronics based on lipid membranes, ion channels, and pumps, which act as a kind of “biological transistor.” Channels control the flow of ions across cell membranes. Solid-state systems, such as those in computers and communication devices, use electrons; their electronic signaling and power are controlled by field-effect transistors.

To build a prototype of their hybrid system, the Columbia engineers packaged a CMOS integrated circuit (IC) with an ATP-harvesting “biocell.” In the presence of ATP, the system pumped ions across the membrane, producing an electrical potential harvested by the IC.

With appropriate scaling, the technology could provide a power source for implanted systems in ATP-rich environments, such as inside living cells.

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