EurekAlert! published an article, “CRISPR-chip enables digital detection of DNA without amplification” that highlights the Aran Lab’s research and recent publication in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
“KGI assistant professor and UC Berkeley visiting scientist Kiana Aran is combining the power of CRISPR’s nucleic acid targeting with the ultra sensitivity of graphene, making it possible to digitally detect DNA without amplification”
Kiana Aran’s novel system immobilizes the CRISPR complexes on the surface of graphene-based transistors. These complexes search a genome to find their target sequence and, if the search is successful, bind to its DNA. This binding changes the conductivity of the graphene material in the transistor, which detects the change using a handheld reader.