Nanoscale tattoos could track health of individual cells

For the first time, the new technology allows the placement of optical elements or electronics on live cells with tattoo-like arrays that stick on cells while flexing and conforming to the cells’ wet and fluid outer structure. The structures were able to stick to soft cells for 16 hours even as the cells moved. The team’s findings are detailed in Nano Letters.

“If you imagine where this is all going in the future, we would like to have sensors to remotely monitor and control the state of individual cells and the environment surrounding those cells in real time,” said David Gracias, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins University who led the effort. “If we had technologies to track the health of isolated cells, we could maybe diagnose and treat diseases much earlier and not wait until the entire organ is damaged.” 

Gracias said the tattoos bridge the gap between living cells or tissue and conventional sensors and electronic materials, adding that they are essentially like barcodes or QR codes.