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Updated: Aug 1, 2026

BioMEMS: Forging New Collaborations Between Biologists and Engineers
Published on: November 1, 2007
At the crossroads of biology and electronics
Gokberk Unal1, Martin Fussenegger2
1ETH Zurich, Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, Schanzenstrasse 48, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Abstract:
All cells are innately equipped with systems to detect and respond to electrical inputs in the form of reactive oxygen species, redox signaling, or membrane depolarization through ion exchange. Electrogenetics aims to leverage these cellular systems to create interfaces between biology and electronics, in order to achieve levels of precision in spatiotemporal control of gene and protein expression that are not possible with chemo-, opto-, or thermogenetics. In this review, we discuss the impact, challenges, and prospects of electrogenetics in the context of recent cutting-edge applications.
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