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

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.

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

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