When thinking about an implementation for our biosensor from the start, the topic water safety was always at the core of our ideas. Therefore, we had to inform ourselves about the current methods this toxin is tested for and how safety of water is guaranteed in general.
Ideas for implementation
Our biosensor would only be used in a lab, since this is where water samples are usually tested. The samples would be taken from the surface of different bodies of water where there is visible cyanobacterial contamination or a suspected contamination. The biosensor would be used by water testing facilities, which ensure the safety of water. Then it could firstly be helpful to assess the safety of drinking water and secondly for bodies of water where people swim in or animals are known to drink from. It would also help with monitoring the presence of Anatoxin-a, especially when trying to ascertain, whether it is becoming more of a problem in the future. Furthermore, it could help with the assessment of characteristics of the toxin since these aren’t fully known yet. After researching places, where Anatoxin-a contamination occurs, it could help to predict places where it might eventually appear and where to impose preventative methods. It also lowers the cost for the detection of Anatoxin-a as the current method, HPLC/MS, is more expensive. Our project only uses engineered cells, which produce a receptor for Anatoxin-a after induction with salicylic acid.
Advice from water testing side
The experts from the water testing facility we visited suggested it would be good to create a biosensor capable of detecting several cyanotoxins, including microcystins for example. Also, they recommended us to use RFP instead of GFP as a reporter, because of the autofluorescence of chlorophyll. Finally, it needs to be able to sense an amount of 30 µg/l water, since this is the limit the WHO suggests (1). From these pieces of advice, we concluded that when moving on with the project, there is still a lot of work to be done in the lab. In addition to that, we were told that a testing kit for water samples including our biosensor would be useful for the facilities. After implementing these changes, a distributable form of the biosensor can be created. In the testing facilities our biosensor could then be used in the first stage of testing the water. After taking the samples, each sample will be tested on several toxins. Our biosensor could therefore reveal whether Anatoxin-a is present in the specific samples.
Safety
There are several safety aspects in need to be considered beforehand. Because of the toxicity of Anatoxin-a, the biosensor should also only be used in the lab, if contamination is suspected. While it is only being used in the lab, there are still several people concerned with the usage of genetically modified organisms in general, which our Human Practices team found out with a survey about our project. A solution for this problem would be to provide more education on the topic for the general public. Also, the issue around cyanobacteria and their toxins contaminating surface water also doesn’t seem to be well known by the public. In this regard we need to raise awareness about the contamination of water they cause. We hope, that by introducing our biosensor, more people become concerned with the topic.