When a single bacterium adheres to the surface area of a graphene drum, it creates random oscillations with amplitudes as low as a few nanometers that we might spot. We could hear the sound of a single bacterium!”
Punching a graphene drum with a germs
The very small oscillations are an outcome of the biological processes of the bacteria with main contribution from their flagella (tails on the cell surface that propel germs). “To comprehend how small these flagellar beats on graphene are, its worth stating that they are at least 10 billion times smaller sized than a boxers punch when reaching a punch bag. Yet, these nanoscale beats can be transformed to sound tracks and listened to– and how cool is that,” Alijani says.
Artists impression of a graphene drum discovering nanomotion of a single bacterium. Credit: Irek Roslon, TU Delft
Graphene for quick detection of antibiotic resistance
This research has enormous ramifications for the detection of antibiotic resistance. The speculative results were indisputable: If the germs were resistant to the antibiotic, the oscillations just continued at the same level. When the germs were susceptible to the drug, vibrations decreased till a couple of hours later, however then they were entirely gone. Thanks to the high sensitivity of graphene drums, the phenomenon can be identified utilizing just a single cell.
Farbod Alijani: “For the future, we intend at optimizing our single-cell graphene antibiotic level of sensitivity platform and validate it versus a variety of pathogenic samples. That ultimately it can be utilized as a reliable diagnostic toolkit for fast detection of antibiotic resistance in clinical practice.” Peter Steeneken concludes: “This would be an invaluable tool in the fight versus antibiotic resistance, an ever-increasing threat to human health all over the world.”
Reference: “Probing nanomotion of single bacteria with graphene drums” by I.E. Roslon, A. Japaridze, P.G. Steeneken, C. Dekker and F. Alijani, 18 April 2022, Nature Nanotechnology.DOI: 10.1038/ s41565-022-01111-6.
When germs are eliminated using an antibiotic, those noises would stop– unless of course, the germs are resistant to the antibiotic. The sound stops when a bacterium is killed by an antibiotic. When a single bacterium adheres to the surface of a graphene drum, it creates random oscillations with amplitudes as low as a few nanometers that we could spot. We might hear the sound of a single germs!”
The extremely small oscillations are an outcome of the biological processes of the bacteria with primary contribution from their flagella (tails on the cell surface that move bacteria).
A graphene drum can expose the noise of germs.
Have you ever wondered if bacteria make distinctive sounds? When bacteria are eliminated utilizing an antibiotic, those noises would stop– unless of course, the bacteria are resistant to the antibiotic.
The noise of a single bacterium
Farbod Alijanis team at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) was originally examining the fundamentals of the physical mechanics of graphene, when a curious idea struck them. If this extremely delicate product came into contact with a single biological item, they wondered what would occur. “Graphene is a form of carbon including a single layer of atoms and is likewise called the marvel product,” states Alijani. “Its very strong with nice electrical and mechanical properties, and its also incredibly conscious external forces.”
This animation shows how a graphene drum can reveal the sound of germs. The sound stops when a germs is killed by an antibiotic. Credit: Irek Roslon– TU Delft
