Respiratory Endothelial Cell Sensor for Real-Time Air Toxicity Monitoring

Because many chemical and biological toxins selectively target respiratory endothelial cells, a biosensor using these cells in combination with Electric Cell-substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS) technology has many useful applications for detection and early warning monitoring of a broad range of toxic agents. In the Phase I SBIR program, Agave BioSystems was highly successful in demonstrating that endothelial cells are a robust system, which can be harnessed in a new class of extremely sensitive yet versatile biosensors to detect a wide variety of chemical toxins. Through simple monitoring of the integrity of respiratory endothelial monolayers using ECIS technology, we successfully detected paraquat, pentachlorophenol, and half-mustard contamination within minutes of addition to the biosensor. Additionally, by combining the respiratory endothelial cells with state of the art microfluidics we were able to continuously deliver samples to the biosensor and demonstrate real-time toxicity monitoring over a two-week period. The focus of the Phase II plan will be to test the system with a wide range of toxic chemicals, refine the microfluidic biochip for continuous flow conditions, develop a field portable ECIS biosensor and integrate an air sampling system for continuous monitoring.