Field Portable Toxicity Sensors for Army Drinking Water Protection (Poster)

 The U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research (USACEHR) and the United States Army Medical Materiel Development Agency (USAMMDA) is developing toxicity sensors for an Environmental Sentinel Biomonitor (ESB) system to provide rapid identification of toxicity from a broad spectrum of industrial and agricultural chemicals that may contaminate Army field drinking water supplies.  Desirable performance characteristics for the ESB system include a rapid response to a panel of 18 toxic industrial chemicals (selected to represent different classes of chemicals) within a defined sensitivity range, adequate shelf life for consumables, and size and weight characteristics consistent with field portability. 

The system has a combination of two technologies that can detect all 18 chemicals, with 12 out of the 18 in the desired concentration range, in less than 90 minutes. The sensors include an electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) system, which uses fluidic biochips seeded with rainbow trout gill epithelial cells (designed through a collaboration with Agave Biosystems, Inc.), and the ACE™ Test for the detection of acetylcholinesterase pesticides (designed through a collaboration with ANP Technologies, Inc.). The ECIS biochips can be maintained at least one year at 6 °C with no media replacement and still remain viable for ECIS toxicity testing, while the reagents for the HHA kit have a projected shelf life of more than 12 months at room temperature.

 

Each sensor prototype is available as a hand-held unit. The compact sizes, long, maintenance-free shelf lives, and chemical sensitivity of the these technologies make them excellent candidates for an ESB system that will provide a significant improvement over current capabilities for identifying chemically-contaminated field drinking water supplies.