Microbial Chip to Capture, Analyse and Steer communities (MICCAS)

The general objective of the proposal is to exploit the full potential of combining modern microelectronics
and micro-fabrication techniques with microbiological functionality. Marrying these
interdisciplinary aspects will allow to construct a new class of chips that will facilitate novel and
radically different approaches in microbial ecology. The MICCAS project will create a unique setting
to develop a multifunctional tool that will allow us detection, identification and manipulation of
microbial populations. The objective from the electrical engineering point of view is – for the first
time- to combine the full power of CMOS circuit with microfabrication techniques for microbacterial
manipulation and analysis. From a microbiological point of view, the MICCAS chip will
allow obtain unique bacterial fingerprints resulting from the Raman scattering or electrical
impedance spectroscopy. This can eventually lead to the development of cheap online microbial
monitoring tools. Furthermore, the capturing and release properties of this unique MICCAS microchip
will also allow us to create synthetic microbial communities that will be used to answer
ecological questions in the field of microbial domestication.