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Our pathogen detection approach relies on Cas13a digesting RNA. A common way of monitoring RNase activities is using commercially available RNaseAlert, consisting of a fluorescent RNA beacon. This is impractical for in-field applications because commercial fluorescence detectors are expensive and inconveniently large. We therefore make our pathogen detection system fit for in-field applications by developing a cheap and handy fluorescence detector. Although many previous iGEM teams constructed fluorescence detectors, we could not find any that had a high enough sensitivity or the ability to measure fluorescence quantitatively. We therefore constructed a detector matching our requirements and compared it to others in a cost vs sensitivity diagram.
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