title: A low-cost, portable generic biotoxicity assay for environmental monitoring applications.
abstract: Fish chromatophores have been shown to be promising biosensors for the detection of hostile agents in the environment. However, state-of-art methods for such applications are still based on extensive use of data/signal processing, in conjunction with need for a skilled human observer to carry out the detection. As a result, conventional methods are complex, costly and cumbersome rendering them useless for field applications requiring low-cost portable solutions capable of fast detection. A new technique is proposed based on the popular scheme of observing the aggregation response in chromatophores for detection of toxicity, and a solution using optical detection and electronic processing is outlined. This scheme has the advantage of being low in cost while providing simple, fast and reliable detection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 220A Owen Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, 97331 OR, USA. sharmavi@ece.orst.edu
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Arthi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Narayanan
authors.forename: Thirumalai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rengachari
authors.forename: Gabor C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Temes
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chaplen
authors.forename: Un-Ku
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Moon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002856:Chromatophores / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005399:Fishes; D008904:Miniaturization; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants