Scientists find nanowires capable of detecting individual viruses

Findings could point the way to ultra-powerful new diagnostic tools and bioterror detectors

Harvard University scientists have found that ultra-thin silicon wires can be used to electrically detect the presence of single viruses, in real time, with near-perfect selectivity. These nanowire detectors can also differentiate among viruses with great precision, suggesting that the technique could be scaled up to create miniature arrays easily capable of sensing thousands of different viruses.