Print“If biosensors were placed near an oil facility and there was a spill, we would know immediately.”
Marine scientists, harnessing the power of the immune system and cutting-edge electronics, have created a biosensor capable detecting and monitoring the release of marine pollutants in near real-time.
The new sensor leverages antibodies and a portable biochemical test to yield results in as little as ten minutes, making it the first known device that can help scientists make on-the-spot decisions about how effectively cleanup efforts are progressing and where to best take larger samples for later lab-based analysis.
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science researchers tested their device in the Elizabeth River and Yorktown Creek, where they measured the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, highly toxic suspected carcinogens resulting from oil spills and industrial effluents. Their test showed the biosensor could not only process samples faster than current technologies, achieving results in less than 10 minutes per sample as opposed to hours of lab work, but also do it much more cheaply, for just pennies per sample as compared with the $1,000 per sample processing cost associated with lab-based techniques.
The team, which reports on their work in the May issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, essentially vaccinated mice against a variety of contaminants, inducing their lymphatic systems to produce antibodies to a variety of contaminants that were then cloned in sufficient quantities to be used in biosensors, says Steve Kaattari, a professor of marine science at the institute.
The device uses the monoclonal antibodies and a sensor from Boise-based Sapidyne Instruments that can recognize when an antibody binds with a contaminant and translate that recognition into an electrical signal. When water samples with low levels of the contaminating hydrocarbons were added to the sensor chamber, they bound with specially coated beads that glow when exposed to fluorescent light. The intensity of the glow depends on the amount of contaminant detected.
“If biosensors were placed near an oil facility and there was a spill, we would know immediately,” says Kaattari. “And because we could see concentrations increasing or decreasing in a certain pattern, we could also monitor the dispersal over real time.”
While biosensors of the type tested by the Virginia team have their limits, ultimately such tests could allow for new and cost-effective environmental monitoring.
May 06, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-slick_trick.html
.gif)
