electronic wolrd: LCD Computer Monitor

LCD Computer Monitor

A second paper programmed E. coli cells to behave like a LCD display. Unless you have a thing for vintage computers, you're probably reading this on a LCD screen. To mimic a LCD screen, the authors placed E. coli cells into a microfluidic device, where clusters (pixel) of cells are held in particular locations within an array and the flow of media between the clusters (pixels) can be easily controlled. This turns out to be necessary because they wanted the E. coli screen to flash on and off in synchrony, no small feat. A collection of videos showing their E. coli LCD screens at work are available for free here.