Genetically-engineered whole-cell bioreporters on integrated circuits for very low-level chemical sensing

We report a biosensor using genetically-engineered whole-cell bioreporters on integrated circuit for low-level chemical sensing. The bioluminescent bioreporters are bacteria that can be genetically altered to achieve bioluminescence when in contact with a targeted substance. The bioreporters are placed on a microluminometer. The microluminometer includes integrated photodetector and signal processor and is realized on a standard CMOS process. The bioluminescent bioreporter integrated circuit (BBIC) can detect luminescence from as few as 5000 fully induced pseudomonas fluorescene 5RL bacteria cell.