New biosensor will guard water supplies from toxic threats

Supported by $953,958 grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), researchers at the University of California San Diego will develop a sophisticated new biosensor that can protect the nation’s water supplies from a wide range of toxins, including heavy metals and other poisons.

The project, led by Jeff Hasty, director of the bioCircuits Institute at UC San Diego, will combine next-generation sequencing, synthetic biology, and microfluidic technologies to engineer a highly specific array of biosensors that will continuously monitor water supplies for the presence of toxins.

The DARPA funding has the potential for an additional $655,130 in a second year of support.

Más información en: http://phys.org/news/2014-03-biosensor-toxic-threats.html