SGER: Growing a Metallic Nanowire up to a Live Cell

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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.