Printed on a Chip, Living Laser Is an Adept Biosensor

A standard inkjet printer is at the heart of a new method that Nanyang Technological University Singapore and China (NTU Singapore and China) developed for monitoring the sometimes subtle interactions between bacteria and antibiotics. The researchers’ approach produced a disposable “living laser on a chip” that supports direct drug-screening applications. The technology, they said, could enable increasingly sensitive and high-throughput testing using micronano laser technology. Introduced in a study led by NTU Singapore’s Yu-Cheng Chen, the living laser incorporates multiple microlasers printed from an office-quality inkjet printer, functioning as a highly sensitive and culture-free sensor and capable of...