UC San Diego to Develop New Biosensor to Protect Water Supply

The ideal result would be an inexpensive chip available to anyone from the Pentagon to everyday homeowners

Researchers in San Diego are working to develop an inexpensive chip that would be able to detect 10 to 20 different toxins in a water supply.

Jeff Hasty, director of the BioCircuits Institute at UC San Diego, told NBC 7 his lab recently received nearly $1 million from a federal grant to develop the chip.

The project will use next-generation sequencing, synthetic biology and microfluidic technologies for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

In addition to helping protect the nation's water supplies from terrorist contamination or accidental pollution, the device might well lead to patentable technology.

The hope is there will be a full model developed within 18 months. The key will be to keep the kits affordable with an ideal price point around $100.

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