URoL:ASC: The design, development, and societal impact of rapid, in-home, water quality biosensors

全球水危机是我们这个时代最紧迫的问题之一。全球数十亿人面临水污染造成的水安全问题，导致深远的不利经济、政治、营养以及精神和身体后果。然而，水检测方法的可及性有限是了解水安全的关键障碍。因此，本提案力求通过制定一套设计、开发和分发快速家庭水质监测测试的三阶段方法，解决在水质和水不安全问题上采取行动的需要。水测试平台是基于从自然微生物如何检测环境中的水污染物的研究中获得的知识，允许分子工程原理被用来重新利用这些传感机制的安全格式，可以由非专家操作。利用生物、化学、工程和社会科学技术的新颖组合，本研究将调查在家中测试水质的能力如何改变与水获取和使用相关的个人的知识、态度和行为。我们的愿景是，这一合成生物技术平台将帮助减轻全球水危机的经济、政治和健康影响，向个人和社区提供可操作的信息，对他们的日常生活产生积极影响，并为缓解战略提供信息。这种新的水质监测方法将与大芝加哥社区合作制定，以检测铅（Pb）、铜（Cu）以及全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质（PFAS），这三种水污染物是主要的公共管制和关注的主题。在第一阶段，社会科学技术将与社区驱动的方法相结合，以收集将指导测试开发的信息。在第二阶段，将与用户一起对特定污染物的测试进行测试，以了解如何优化测试以获得最大的用户利益。在第三阶段，将对用户进行测试，并使用调查来衡量他们在进行测试前后对三种特定水污染物的知识、态度和行为的变化。重要的是，每个阶段都将通过建立社区咨询委员会来整合社区利益相关者的观点。将开展教育和外联活动，培训多样化的学生群体，使他们能够将多个学科结合起来，与受影响社区合作应对全球挑战。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The global water crisis is among the most urgent issues of our time. Billions of people globally face problems with water security caused by water contamination, leading to far-reaching adverse economic, political, nutritional, and mental and physical consequences. However, limited accessibility to water testing methods is a critical barrier to understanding water safety. Therefore, this proposal seeks to address the need for action on water quality and water insecurity by developing a three-stage methodology for the design, development, and distribution of rapid in-home, water quality monitoring tests. The water test platform is based on knowledge gained from the study of how natural microorganisms detect water contaminants in the environment, allowing molecular engineering principles to be used to repurpose these sensing mechanisms in safe formats that can be operated by non-experts. Using a novel combination of biological, chemical, engineering and social science techniques, this study will investigate how the ability to test water quality at home changes the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of individuals related to water access and use. The vision is that this synthetic biology biotechnology platform will help mitigate the economic, political, and health impacts of the global water crisis by providing actionable information to individuals and communities that positively impacts their daily lives and informs mitigation strategies. This new approach to water quality monitoring will be established in collaboration with the greater Chicagoland community for the detection of lead (Pb), copper (Cu), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), three water contaminants that are the subject of major public regulation and concern. In Stage 1, social science techniques will be combined with community-driven approaches to collect information that will guide the development of the tests. In Stage 2, tests for a particular contaminant will be tested with users to understand how tests can be optimized for maximum user benefit. In Stage 3, tests will be given to users, and surveys will be used to measure changes in their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about the three specific water contaminants before and after tests are performed. Importantly, each stage will integrate the perspectives of community stakeholders through the establishment of a community advisory board. Education and outreach activities will be performed to train a diverse group of students to combine multiple disciplines to tackle global challenges in partnership with affected communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.