Strategies for the Design and Field Deployment of Cell-Free Biosensors

Thavarajah, Walter

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-nsmq-g345

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Strategies for the Design and Field Deployment of Cell-Free Biosensors

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Three in ten people worldwide lack access to a safely managed source of drinking water, with one in ten lacking access to a drinking water service altogether. This is projected to worsen in the coming years as climate change, infrastructure degradation, and poor governance work to further increase global water insecurity. Tracking this problem and guiding public health interventions will require a means to generate accurate, high resolution water quality data, but unfortunately, existing technologies are unequipped to meet this need. Gold standard analytic methods require infrastructure that is limited in affected areas, while accurate point-of-use tests are prohibitively expensive and require training beyond the skill level of the average user. Cell-free biosensors offer a powerful alternative to these technologies. They consist of cellular lysate or the reconstituted components necessary for gene expression, along with a genetically encoded sensor for the given target of interest. So far, these sensors have only been characterized in the lab or in non-representative field studies, leaving a dearth of information on their real-world function. My research aims to fill that void. More specifically, it follows the path from regulating gene expression in vitro using fluoride, a top priority water contaminant, to putting a fluoride biosensor in the hands of general users in a real-world study site. Further development of this technology could yield a suite of deployable biosensors for priority water contaminants, expanding testing capacity and reducing the impact water insecurity has in driving global disease burden, poverty, and inequity.

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