Creating a Low-Cost Method to Measure Contaminants of Emerging Concern

2023 Fast-Track Grant Project
Visual showing biosensor and spectrofluorimeter development. A MN map highlights contaminants (BPA, DEET). The biosensor section shows molecular aptamer beacons detecting CECs. The spectrofluorimeter part includes design, fabrication, and validation stages, featuring a design drawing, a photo of the device, and a graph of the aptamer concentration response.

Image credit: Heather Brown/CSS

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Project description

This project aims to create a low-cost 3D-printed tool called a spectrofluorimeter that uses NDA-based biosensors to measure contaminants of emerging concern in northeastern Minnesota surface waters. The project team plans to build a hand-held, field-deployable portable device that can quickly and easily detect specific contaminants of emerging concern in real-time. To identify these contaminants, the team will use special sensors called molecular aptamer beacons (MABs), which are used to detect DNA. The spectrofluorimeter will use a smartphone camera to detect fluorescence signals that are produced when the sensor MABs bind with intended targets - the contaminants of emerging concern. The long-term goal of this project is to create a library of contaminants of emerging concern using the spectrofluorimeter and MABs.

Funding

This project is supported by a Minnesota Sea Grant 2023 Fast-Track Grant.

Project team

Principal Investigator:
Heather S. Brown, Associate Professor, CHM Chemistry, College of Saint Scholastica.

Lead scientist(s)

Heather S. Brown 
Associate Professor 
CHM Chemistry
College of Saint Scholastica