Rapid Cell-based Toxicity Sensor Using Intergrated Micro Ring-resonators as Signal Transducer

The goal of the proposed research is to develop a highly sensitive, portable, vertebrate cell-based sensor for rapid detection of toxic chemicals in water that can be used as a standalone device or can be integrated into the ESB system. The key technological innovation that will be employed is a unique photonic element called a microring resonator (MR) as signal transducer, which undergoes a measurable change in resonant wavelength when light interacts with adsorbed mass, such as a living cell. As cell volume changes rapidly upon exposure to toxic chemicals, by attaching cells to microring resonators, the volumetric change of the cells will cause refractive index changes nearby the ring resonators that can be detected very sensitively by the ring resonators. In Phase I we will construct a ring resonator testing system and conduct research on selected cell lines and monitor three different toxic chemicals in water to provide a proof of concept demonstration. This will be achieved by performing the following objectives: 1) Build a bench top microring resonator testing system, 2) Culture selected cell lines and attach these cells to the microring resonators, 3) Test the cell based microring resonator sensing system with three selected toxic chemicals