Engineers at the University of California at San Diego have developed an electrical graphene chip to detect mutations in DNA. It could be the basis of a biosensor chip that can be implanted in the body to offer detection of specific DNA mutations--that would transmit the data to a mobile device in real-time. But a lot of work has to be done first to understand what minute alterations in DNA actually mean when it comes to pathology. "We are at the forefront of developing a fast and inexpensive digital method to detect gene mutations at high resolution--on the scale of a single nucleotide change in a nucleic acid sequence," said Ratnesh Lal, professor of bioengineering, mechanical engineering and materials science in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UCSD, in a statement. This work could eventually add up to a real-time liquid biopsy implant. More
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