Clevertex - Grado Zero Espace Srl

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