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Fig. 81 Fashion Victim [147]<br />
They presented their work on the e-fare in Amsterdam in 2003. Since then, it seems as the project has<br />
not been preceded any more.<br />
2.2.4.2 Patents published<br />
2.2.5 Applications in the technical textile sector<br />
2.2.5.1 Research projects and products<br />
Benjamin Miller and colleagues of the University of Rochester, US, have developed a sensor that<br />
generates an easy recognisable array of colours that signify dangerous or antibiotic-resistant strains.<br />
So far, the device produces only a very small colour change, which is not detectable with the naked<br />
eye.<br />
Most bacteria are either Gram-positive or Gram-negative. A dye called crystal violet stains Grampositive<br />
bacteria blue-violet and Gram-negative bacteria red. This staining procedure was discovered<br />
in 1884 by the Danish biologist Christian Joachim Gram and is still used today to distinguish the two<br />
cell types. Miller’s team hope to replace the cumbersome staining procedure with a simple process<br />
that registers the difference instantly and in situ. Therefore they will use silicon-based light-emitting<br />
devices. When Gram-negative bacteria stick to the surface of porous silicon, the colour of the emitted<br />
light slightly changes. The researchers make the silicon attract Gram-negative, but not Gram-positive<br />
bacteria, by coating it with specially designed molecules that hook chemicals groups only present on<br />
Gram-negative microbes.<br />
Eventually this may lead to the development of smart bandages that could soon alert doctors to the<br />
presence of certain bacteria in a wound by glowing different colours.<br />
Photochromic yarn SolarActive International, Inc. (USA)<br />
84