Team:UCC Ireland

Our project aims to create a standardised universal biosensor strategy, that will be affordable and user friendly, containing all the components for readout. This system will consist of three elements: a bioengineered construct, the chassis and the readout device.

1. Bioengineered Construct Comprises a biological circuit designed to detect the presence of a specific substrate. This sensing element of each construct is specific to the substance being detected, while the readout from each construct is consistent = AmilCP (a blue coloured chromoprotein).

2. Chassis The system is deployed initially through plasmid containing E. coli (tube-based), with the aim of progressing to a cell free system (as a lyophilised paper system).

3. Readout Device The readout device has been 3D printed and is designed to attach to common smartphones. The device acts as a spectrophotometer, enabling easy measurement of the relative fluorescence or absorbance of a sample. Using a mobile app and algorithms developed by the team, the device compares the fluorescence/absorbance measurement to a standard curve and determine the concentration of the substance being tested for in the sample.

To validate the idea for our Universal Biosensor Strategy, we identified irish industries with a need for such a product. We have targeted the dairy and microbrewery industries as proof of concept for our project, to test for antibiotic or methanol residue.