Biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego have made a living neon sign that consists of millions of bacterial cells that every so often fluoresce together like a blinking light of bulbs. They did this by attaching a fluorescent protein to the biological clocks of the bacteria. This is not only a work of art, but it is demonstrating a new field of synthetic biology and how we can engineer living cells like machines. Using this same approach, researchers created a simple bacterial sensor which is able to detect low levels of arsenic. Scientist believe that this could also help to design low cost biosensors.
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