SBIR Phase I: Engineering Living Sensors to Reveal Environmental Threats

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve the ability to detect and manage contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of persistent industrial chemicals often called “forever chemicals.” PFAS contamination has affected millions of acres of agricultural land in the United States, creating risks for food systems, ecosystems, and rural economies. Current monitoring approaches rely on laboratory testing of soil samples, which is costly and sparse, leaving large areas untested. This project will develop a plant-based environmental sensing system that enables large-scale screening of soils for PFAS contamination. By integrating contamination detection into deployable plant systems, the approach has the potential to generate high-resolution contamination maps, guide remediation efforts, and reduce monitoring costs. The technology combines advances in synthetic biology and remote sensing to create a new class of living diagnostics – living sensors. If successful, this work will enhance scientific understanding of how engineered biological systems can function as distributed sensors while providing a practical tool to improve contaminant monitoring, agricultural resilience, and public health protection. Early markets are expected to include government and industrial site managers who monitor large areas of land potentially affected by PFAS contamination. The proposed project will develop a genetically engineered cover crop capable of detecting specific PFAS compounds in soil and producing a visible signal that can be detected remotely. The project will focus on engineering plant hormone receptor circuits that respond selectively to PFAS molecules and activate a reporter signal in plant tissue. Candidate receptor variants will be designed using computational protein engineering and constructed using high-throughput gene synthesis and directed evolution. These receptors will be integrated into a pennycress cover crop to create sentinel plants that convert molecular detection events into visible signals such as pigment production or autonomous bioluminescence. A remote sensing pipeline using drone or satellite imaging will be developed to detect and map these signals across large areas. This Phase I project will test the feasibility of this approach by engineering PFAS-responsive receptors and validating sensor performance in controlled greenhouse conditions. The anticipated outcome is proof-of-concept validation of a scalable plant-based sensing platform. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.