Researchers from Columbia University and City College are developing a biohybrid detection system that combines engineered yeast, AI-designed proteins, and semiconductor sensors to measure PFAS concentrations in water.
The project is led by Virginia Cornish, a Columbia professor of chemistry and systems biology.
PFAS, commonly called “forever chemicals,” are synthetic compounds used to provide resistance to water, grease, stains, and heat.
Because the chemicals break down extremely slowly, they can persist in both the environment and the human body.
The research team is seeking to create a faster and less expensive alternative to conventional laboratory-based PFAS detection.
Its planned device uses engineered yeast containing biological sensors and fluorescent proteins.
The yeast is freeze-dried and embedded into material resembling pH test paper.
Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor sensor chips detect the resulting fluorescence and convert the signal into an estimate of PFAS concentration.
Users would dip a disposable testing stick into a water sample and receive a concentration range through a small wireless reader.
The researchers believe the system could give municipal water operators near-real-time information as they test water supplies and evaluate PFAS-removal systems.
Cornish estimates that both the reader and disposable test strips could cost orders of magnitude less than existing methods, potentially reducing testing expenses by hundreds of thousands of dollars for individual municipal water systems.
The project is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator program.
The multidisciplinary research team includes experts in chemistry, systems biology, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, and related fields.
KEY QUOTES:
“These devices are example of biohybrid systems, systems in which engineered biological systems are combined with semiconductor sensors and actuators to create a system with a function beyond what is possible with solid-state or biological system alone.”
Ken Shepard, Lau Family Professor at Columbia University
