Linking nanoparticles to bacteria :
We decided to chemically attach streptavidin to bacteria (using streptavidin hydrazide) in order to be able to link biotinylated nanoparticles to them. This was done both on simple DH5-alpha cells and GFP-expressing E.coli. Though the cells were dead by the time we visualized them under the microscope, we could show that the nanoparticles indeed bind specifically to the bacteria. This gives a preview of what the final Taxi.Coli device could look like!