Selenium biosensor development

硒是所有生命必需的元素，但当浓度超过营养需求时，它就会中毒。一些工业活动，如采矿，可以加速溶解的硒化合物释放到接收环境中。为了从工业废水中去除溶解的硒，反应器**被用来生物地将可溶的硒物种还原成不可溶的形式。为了管理工业场所的硒释放，必须准确及时地测量废水和处理过的水中可溶性硒的浓度。目前这还不能在现场完成，因为测量硒形态的方法是高度专业化的，只能由几个商业实验室进行。在这个项目中，一家生物技术公司FREDsense想要使用他们的专利便携式、经济高效的设备，直接在现场测量水中感兴趣的污染物。他们的第一个产品是砷传感器，他们希望采用类似的方法来开发硒生物传感器。他们的技术是基于对遗传元素的反应，这些遗传元素对**感兴趣的分析物具有选择性和敏感性。鲍德温博士一直在研究硒还原生物，她的团队已经收集了大量关于这些生物的宏基因组数据。该项目的目标是挖掘这些宏基因组数据，以寻找潜在的遗传元素，这些元素可以在FREDsense的技术中测试它们对硒的选择性和敏感性。此外，Baldwin博士实验室的硒酸盐还原菌富集将用于硒酸盐和亚硒酸盐选择性遗传元素的功能筛选。本工作的结果将是鉴定具有选择性和敏感性的候选遗传元件，对溶解硒、硒酸盐和亚硒酸盐具有选择性和敏感性。

Selenium is an essential element for all life, but when concentrations exceed nutritional requirements it**becomes toxic. Some industrial activities, such as mining, can accelerate the release of dissolved selenium**compounds into the receiving environment. To remove dissolved selenium from industrial wastewater, reactors**are used to biologically reduce the soluble selenium species into non-soluble forms. In order to manage**selenium release at industrial sites, the concentrations of soluble selenium species in the wastewater and in the**treated water must be measured in an accurate and timely way. Currently this cannot be done on site, as the**method for measuring selenium speciation is highly specialized and can only be carried out by a few**commercial laboratories. In this project, a biotechnology company, FREDsense wants to use their patented**portable, cost-effective device for measuring contaminants of interest in water directly in the field. Their first**product was an arsenic sensor, and they want to employ a similar approach to develop a selenium biosensor.**Their technology is based on a response to genetic elements that are selective and sensitive to the analyte of**interest. Dr. Baldwin has been working with selenate-reducing organisms and her group has collected a vast**amount of metagenomic data on these. The goal of this project is to mine these metagenomic data for potential**genetic elements that can be tested for their selenium selectivity and sensitivity in FREDsense's technology.**Additionally, the selenate reducing bacteria enrichments in Dr. Baldwin's laboratory will be used for functional**screening for selenate and selenite selective genetic elements. The outcome of this work will be identification**of candidate genetic elements with the selectivity and sensitivity for dissolved selenium species, selenate and**selenite.