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Nanoscale filiments of conducting proteins grow on the outer surface of a group of bacteria known as Geobacter sulfurreducens.
These incredible bio-nanowires can reach up to several microns in length; yet they are just a few nanometers
wide. The nanowires function to conduct electrons to insoluble electron acceptors such as Fe(III) oxides and other cells within electrically-active biofilms.
This study applies our methods to probe the nature of biological electron transfer in these systems.
The picture to the left is a Scanning Tunneling Microscopy image of a biological nanowire on a flat graphite substrate. It was aquired by graduate student Josh Veazey who performed a careful study of the electronic structure of these filaments at room temperature. Dr. Veazey is currently a postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh. |