Prions cause Alzheimer's, mad cow disease and really small circuits

Cory Doctorow 2:40 pm Tue Apr 1, 2003

Roland sez, "Scientists working at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have turned misfolded proteins known as prions into a construction toolkit for manufacturing nanoscale electrical circuits. They say they might develop nanowires for electronics by using genetically engineered yeast amyloids. Amyloids are misfolded proteins found plaguing the victims of cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease and many other ailments. However, the researchers said the way they genetically engineered the protein is not infectious to humans. Remember the mad cow disease?"

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(Thanks, Roland!)

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