An Integrated System for In-Field Detection of Microbial Contaminants in Coastal Waters

NOAA places a high priority in working with state and territory coastal resource managers to manage and conserve these vital resources.Microbial contamination adversely impacts coastal water quality, and poor water quality has negative economic, health and environmental effects.Therefore, the advancement and implementation of rapid and automated methods for monitoring and identifying microbial contamination in coastal waters is urgently needed.To this end, Lynntech proposes to develop and commercialize a field-deployable, integrated system capable of rapidly detecting microbial contaminants in coastal waters.The system will employ a unique automated concentrator to capture and consolidate microbes directly from coastal waters, followed by novel sample preparation and PCR steps to detect target pathogens.The system could be operated remotely or installed on the Integrated Ocean Observing System. Aside from coastal water monitoring, its applications may include ballast water quality assessments, biosecurity for water resources, and aquaculture monitoring.