Team:Kent

The Problem

With rapid technological advancement in the electrical and computing industry there is pressure to increase processing power while downscaling circuitry. The recent discovery of nanowires has fuelled progress in downscaling electrical circuit boards. Currently most circuit boards use copper clad laminates which create large connections and take up a significant amount of space, leading to large boards. Nanowires provide a solution to downscaling. In practical application nanowires must be in perfect shapes with non-varying cross sections. Despite recent advancements in nanowire production, deformations and imperfections are almost unavoidable.

Our Solution

Our amyloid nanowire provides an alternative material and method of production, whilst being environmentally friendly and self-assembling. We use an amyloid forming protein, Sup35-NM, which is exported by our engineered E. coli into a solution where the proteins polymerise to form amyloid. Amyloid fibres are well-suited for using as nanowire due to their high heat stability.

Future

With further engineering, in the future it would be possible to insert an electron carrier into the periplasm, allowing electrons from the electron transport chain to be sequestered into the amyloid nanowire directly. This could be achieved using strains of E.coli that allow amyloid fibres to bind to the outside of the cell at specific points. Ultimately this will produce a self-powering unit that would generate and transport its own electricity that could be used in consumer products, such as mobile phones, eliminating the need for chargers.