Team:Tufts/Human Practices
Human Practices
In our project, we considered many ways that this kind of sensor could be used to improve public health. We decided that the most relevant applications would be either as a remote water sensor, or an inexpensive test for cancerous biomarkers
Remote Water sensor
As an bioelectric sensor, our project can easily be used to transmit data across a far distances using cell signals or radio. This is ideal for remote areas where a water supply must be continuously monitored- a sensor placed in the water supply could transmit data to an outside source which would then alert the community if levels of a certain chemical become too high. For example our mechanism could monitor the levels of arsenic in a system, or other chemicals depending on the promoter controlling our transcription. Additionally, since our system is bacteria-based, the sensor would run for as long as it had a source of food.
Biomarker detector
Per the nature of our sensor, it is extremely to cheaply make and distribute. Simply grow enough bacteria to create a current and develop a cheap assay to detect and process the current into usable data, and we can create multitudes of cheap medical tests. One such test could be for popular biomarkers for colon cancer- with the correct promoter the bacteria could detect biomarkers in a solution of sample and alert medical personnel if a non-negligible amount of such biomarkers exist.