A living human cell has been combined with a microchip by researchers at the
University of California, Berkeley. Zapping cells with electric currents makes
pores open in the cell wall, which can be used to get drugs into cells. But it鈥檚
hard to tell if the right voltage has been used. The new chip sandwiches the
cell between conducting solutions, allowing researchers to detect the change in
current when pores form, so they can tell if they鈥檝e used the right voltage. The
team believes its chips could one day be inserted in the body to control
diseased cells.
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