Biosensors will improve drinking water safety - Earth.com

Biosensors will improve drinking water safety

06-18-2020


Biosensors will improve drinking water safety Today’s Video of the Day from the National Science Foundation describes ongoing research that aims to improve the safety of drinking water. 

A team of engineers and chemists at the University of Cincinnati is developing a fast-responding biosensor to detect highly harmful toxins in water. 

The ultimate goal is to create a simple test that could instantly assess the safety of water in lakes and reservoirs. This could provide early contamination warning systems to protect public health. There are some  main reasons for the common use of enzymes in biosensors. For example the  ability to catalyze a large number of reactions; potential to detect a group of analytes (substrates, products, inhibitors, and modulators of the catalytic activity); also  suitability with several different transduction methods for detecting the analyte. Notably, since enzymes are not consumed in reactions, the biosensor can easily be used continuously. Biosensors will improve drinking water safety as shown above in video shows the diferent toxic harmful water.

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: NSF

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