Development of innovative biosensors for biochemical oxygen demand and E. coli

我们将利用微生物电化学池(MECs)的原理开发创新的生物传感器，用于测量生化需氧量(BOD)浓度和计数水和废水中活的大肠杆菌数量。目前的大肠杆菌BOD测定和计数方法依赖于培养技术，这是周期性的、劳动密集型的和昂贵的。基于MEC的新型BOD传感器将针对合成废水和真实废水进行设计和优化。BOD传感器的原型将通过滑铁卢大学和OZ Optics，Ltd.的合作在废水处理设施和湖泊中进行测试。现场测试将使我们能够评估BOD传感器对水和废水中水质参数波动的敏感性和准确性。同时，将设计和测试一种用于计算活大肠杆菌的创新生物传感器，以证明微血管内皮细胞中的电流可以代表活大肠杆菌数量的假设。拟议研究的成功使我们能够以半连续的方式(每小时收集数据)监测水和废水中的BOD浓度和活大肠杆菌数量，这将显著改善目前的水质监测系统，并有助于保护水资源和人类健康免受污染。

We will develop innovative biosensors using principles of microbial electrochemical cells (MECs) for measuring biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentration and enumerating the number of live E. coli in water and wastewater. Current methods for BOD measurement and enumeration of E. coli depend on culturing techniques, which are periodic, labour-intensive, and expensive. New MEC-based BOD sensors will be designed and optimized for synthetic and real wastewater. A prototype of the BOD sensors will be tested in wastewater treatment facilities and lakes through collaborations of the University of Waterloo and OZ Optics, Ltd. Field tests will allow us to assess the sensitivity and accuracy of the BOD sensors to fluctuations of water quality parameters in water and wastewater. In parallel, an innovative biosensor for counting live E. coli will be designed and tested to prove a hypothesis that electric current in MECs can represent the number of live E. coli. The success of the proposed research enables us to monitor BOD concentration and the number of live E. coli in water and wastewater as semi-continuous manners (data collection at every hour), which will significantly improve current water quality monitoring systems and help protection of water resources and human health against contaminants for Canada.