This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the design of a fully automated biosensor that will detect fecal contamination in recreational (beach) waters with "same day" results. The sophistication built into the CARD sensor will eliminate virtually all "hands-on" efforts and permit complicated tests to be performed by individuals of varying skill levels (including unskilled). Successful completion of this project will not only reduce the time to results from the 1-2 days now required to perform the currently approved EPA methods, but will also allow EPA to satisfy a court ordered mandate to achieve "same day" results for beach monitoring. This will improve the health and safety of bathers and reduce the unnecessary concern on the part of beach users who may have used a beach in the several days leading up to a beach closing announcement.
The broader impacts of this research are that the underlying technology has direct applications in multiple market niches including human and veterinary diagnostics, personalized medicine, drinking water/food/beverage testing, and monitoring of pharmaceutical and personal care products for microbial contamination. Our proprietary and inexpensive production methods can be used to produce the disposable CARD microfluidic devices which can then be inserted into a portable (AC or DC powered) control box, complete with the software required to control all aspects of the assays (i.e., time and volumes of each step, flow rates, temperatures, etc.). Taken together, the CARD system can be implemented with reduced training and expense in growing markets.
