Dip Chip can warn of toxins in water

Dip chip water tester Israeli scientists say they've developed a biosensor they've dubbed a "Dip Chip" that can quickly test water quality in the field for the presence of toxins. The Dip Chip contains microbes designed to exhibit a biological reaction to toxic chemicals, emulating the biological responses of humans or animals, researchers at Tel Aviv University reported Monday.
The new chips are based on genetically modified microbes whose biological reaction is converted into an electronic signal that can be read by the user, they said.
When perfected for commercial applications, the chip might be easily plugged into a mobile device such as a smartphone to determine toxicity, engineering Professor Yosi Shacham-Diamand said.
"In my lab, we developed a method for communicating with the microbes, converting this biological response to electrical signals," he said.
Once the microbes on the device, which looks like a dip stick, come into contact with a questionable substance they produce a chemical signal that is converted to an electrical current by a device that can interpret the signals, producing a binary "toxic" or "not toxic" diagnosis, he said.