Arsenic was selected by Cadets2Vets as the first chemical we would attempt to detect using a biological circuit. It is naturally found in the environment, especially in groundwater, and around industrial plants as a byproduct of manufacturing practices.​

The detection of arsenic is especially important to team members in the Puget Sound area, because North Tacoma is a Superfund Site. The ASARCO smelting company smokestack, erected in 1917, was a symbol of economic prosperity and booming business in the developing city of Tacoma. The copper smelting site on Ruston’s shore in Puget Sound brought jobs and wealth to the area. Unfortunately, over the course of its 100 years of operation, the plant had been pumping toxic materials like arsenic and lead directly into the air, where it then settled into the surrounding soil and water of the greater Tacoma area.

The smokestack was demolished in 1985, but there are still toxic levels of heavy metals in the soil over 30 years later. The city of Tacoma takes measures to warn new Tacoma homeowners about how to mitigate any increased levels of exposure to toxic materials in their soil, but must also take more drastic steps to protect users of publicly-owned land.

The Department of Defense has a strong interest in developing rapid assays to test for environmental risks to protect the health of service members. Troops often deploy to hostile environments and assessing the risks of the environment itself can be challenging. The development of the arsenic circuit represents a new way to use synthetic biology in the military setting. Demonstrating that a biological circuit can be used in this application will lead to an expansion of the technology to test for more substances in the future.