QUT synthetic biologists have developed a prototype for an innovative biosensor that can detect rare earth elements and be modified for a range of other applications.
QUT synthetic biologists have developed a prototype for an innovative biosensor that can detect rare earth elements and be modified for a range of other applications.
Lanthanides (Lns) are elements used in electronics, electric motors, and batteries. The problem is that we can't extract enough of them to meet the growing demand and current extraction methods are expensive and environmentally damaging.
Professor Kirill Alexandrov and colleagues, from the QUT Centre of Agriculture and Bioeconomy and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, engineered proteins to create molecular nanomachines that generate easily detectable signals when they selectively bind to Lns.
Read more at Queensland University of Technology
Image: Conceptual artwork of a biosensor. (Credit: QUT)
