SGER: Growing a Metallic Nanowire up to a Live Cell

定向电化学纳米线生长是一种新技术，它提供了一种从宏观电极到电极间区域的目标位置生长晶体金属纳米线的方法。通过在单个活细胞上将多条导线连接到一组目标位置，这项技术可能被用于向细胞传递复杂的电刺激。然而，实现这一应用需要以下条件：必须有可能在良好的细胞培养基中诱导这种丝生长过程，并且这种生长过程不损害细胞的生存能力是至关重要的。该项目的目标是开发一种方法，在不丧失细胞活力的情况下，将金属纳米线培养成生物细胞。这一目标将通过以下具体任务来实现：(1)设计一种既支持金丝生长又包含细胞培养测试介质中全部溶质的培养基；(2)改进这种定制的培养基，使金丝能够生长到一个活细胞。为了完成这些任务，该团队将采用以下方法：定向电化学纳米线生长；动脉平滑肌细胞的培养；荧光显微镜、亮场显微镜和透射电镜；生化活力测定；无尘室光刻。佛兰德斯集团定期致力于加强在俄克拉何马市俄克拉何马科学与数学学校就读的高中生的教育。佛兰德斯小组的研究生进行了一系列的实验室演示，例如微米尺寸电线的定向组装。这些证明强调了物理学是一门依赖于观察的实验科学。

Directed electrochemical nanowire growth is a new technique that provides a way to grow crystalline, metallic nanowires from macroscopic electrodes to targeted sites in the interelectrode region. By growing multiple wires up to a set of targeted sites on single live cells, this technique could potentially be used to deliver complex electrical stimuli to the cells. However, realizing this application requires the following: it must be possible to induce this wire-growth process in a good cell culturing medium, and it is essential that this growth-process does not compromise the viability of the cell. The objective of this project is to develop methodology for growing a metallic nanowire up to a biological cell without loss of cell viability. This objective will be accomplished via the following specific tasks: (1) Design a medium that both supports the growth of gold wires and contains the full complement of solutes present in cell culture tested-media; and (2) Refine this customized medium to enable gold wire growth up to a live cell. To accomplish these tasks, this team will employ the following methods: directed electrochemical nanowire growth; culturing of arterial smooth muscle cells; epi-fluorescence, bright-field, and transmission electron microscopies; biochemical viability assays; and cleanroom lithography. The Flanders Group regularly works to enhance the education of high school students who attend the Oklahoma School for Science and Mathematics in Oklahoma City. Graduate students in the Flanders Group perform a series of lab demonstrations, such as the directed assembly of micron-sized wires. These demonstrations underscore the notion that physics is an experimental science that relies on observations.