Bar-Code Technology Tapped For DNA Tests

A new technology to diagnose illness the way a grocery store checkout scanner reads a bar code is being tested by Northwestern University researchers. A so-called bio bar code technology to spot anthrax is described in a report posted online Tuesday by the Journal of the American Chemical Society. A Northwestern University team led by Chad Mirkin, head of the school's nanotechnology institute, used tiny particles of gold, DNA and magnetic material to construct a system that can isolate anthrax DNA from a single drop of blood.