The OMBTox project: Development of a prototype affordable 3D-printed device to utilise novel biosensors and their data to detect harmful environmental toxicity

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This project aims to research and prototype a highly affordable, 3D-printed device for detecting toxicity in the field using OMBs novel molecular biosensors. The biosensor technology has recently emerged from the research base as OMB is a University of Oxford spinout, and as such the market is unestablished, requiring an innovative approach to enter and get purchase. In this project we will develop a prototype device able to quantify the light-output from our cutting-edge microbial biosensors. These novel biosensors are based on designed bacteria, and can be used to detect various important targets such as toxicity, genotoxicity, specific heavy metals and metalloids such as cadmium and arsenic, and also antibiotics. In the presence of these targets, the biosensors release light, which is able to be detected and quantified, to give information on the relative quantity in the sample. These targets can cause detrimental effects in the environment and in industries such as wastewater treatment plants and fish farms, and so OMBs biosensors can help inform the user on concentrations and provide an early warning system. Our target markets include waste-water treatment plants, aquaculture farms and brownfield sites - as the sensors can detect toxicity in under 30 minutes and inform the user if further testing is required, or if the plant is working correctly. In particular, this project focuses on value of the biosensor data, and aims to generate a dynamic database able to provide additional, highly useful data for the customer. As the device proposed in this project will be highly affordable, it will be more likely to be adopted in developing countries where it is most needed, and to this end we will not only be testing it in the UK, but also in Bangladesh and Ethiopia.