US researchers to develop new biosensor to protect water supplies

The researchers at the University of California San Diego, US, will develop a new biosensor following a $953,958 grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The biosensors will continuously monitor water supplies for the presence of toxins, aiming to protect the nation’s water supplies from heavy metals and other poisons. The DARPA funding has the potential for an additional $655,130 in a second year of support.

UC San Diego BioCircuits Institute director Jeff Hasty is heading the project, which will combine next-generation sequencing, synthetic biology and microfluidic technologies to engineer a highly specific array of biosensors.

"The novel device will detect sub-lethal quantities of heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and cadmium, as well as cyanide and organophosphate pesticides, with very high specificity," Hasty said.

"Unlike current testing methods, which are costly and can only be performed sporadically, our technology will be a low-cost, continuous first-response system. It will signal if more thorough analytical chemistry tests should be employed."

The heart of the detection device will be a microfluidic chip that continuously directs water to colonies of microbial cells that act as detectors.

"The device is engineered to generate macroscopic signals so that specialised optics are unnecessary. This will set the stage for the conversion to electrical signals that will enable the use of low-cost electronics," Hasty added.

"We’re using common lab strains of bacteria because the genetics and molecular behaviour are safe, well-known, and sensitive to the toxins we want to detect."