|
Home
On-line Store
NECi News
and R&D |
|
For Immediate Release: NECi Awarded Innovation Grant for Developing a Nitrate Biosensor based on Nitrate Reductase November 1, 1999 Contact: Ellen R. Campbell, VP, 906-296-1000, ellenr@nitrate.com The Nitrate
Elimination Co., Inc. (NECi) NECi, the Nitrate Elimination Co., Inc., has won a Phase I award for development of enzyme-based biosensor technology. The new grant, totaling $100,400, was awarded by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Entitled "Development of a Nitrate Biosensor based on Plant Nitrate Reductase", the new project began in September 1999 and will continue throughout much of 2000. Ellen
R. Campbell, Vice President of NECi, serves as the Principal Investigator.
Dr. Wilbur H. Campbell, NECi President, is the Senior Scientist. A research technician, Nicolas Plumeré from Strasbourg,
France, will be hired shortly. The
project involves construction of a new kind of electronic device capable of
detecting nitrate in any type of water. The
sensing element is the enzyme nitrate reductase coupled to an electrode surface.
Biosensor technology has begun moving from the research lab to practical
applications in the real world, and NECi hopes to play a part in advancing the
cutting edge of this new industry. Two
organizations, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and the
National Institute for Environmental Renewal, centered in Mayfield,
Pennsylvania, have agreed to provide testing of biosensor prototypes in their
ongoing nitrate monitoring projects. The
original work on which NECi's biosensor development program is based was done in
collaboration with Dr. Scott Glazier of the Biotechnology Division of NIST
(National Institutes of Standards and Technology), part of the US Department of
Commerce, in Gaithersburg, MD. Nitrate
is a common substance that is routinely measured in drinking water and
wastewater, as a check on environmental quality in lakes, rivers and streams,
and in many industrial and agricultural situations.
There is a technology gap in nitrate measurement that NECi's nitrate
biosensor will help to fill. The
basic concept of the nitrate biosensor is to exploit the extreme sensitivity of
the enzyme to nitrate, and to capture a record of the enzyme's activity in the
presence of nitrate as a tiny electrical impulse.
The impulse will be amplified electronically for display on a panel meter
or on-line data logging system. This
electronic signal call also be transmitted and stored on a computer for
effective monitoring of nitrate content over time. Nitrate
in the environment is growing problem world-wide.
Excess nitrate is changing the basic ecology of natural organism
populations from those surviving best at low Nitrogen content of natural waters
to ones best able to grow at higher Nitrogen.
"Red tides", algae blooms, and outbreaks of the fish-killing
organism Pfiesteria are examples problems linked to excess nitrate.
Other nutrients, such as phosphate, often accompany nitrate/nitrogen as
pollutants from a variety of sources such as run-off from agricultural fields
and suburban lawns. Many industrial
processes produce nitrate-containing waste streams. Nitrate deposition from air pollution is another major
source. And nitrate pollution
levels can change with the seasons: highest
levels are usually found in the Spring, during spring runoff.
Currently
available technology for nitrate monitoring is limited.
The Nitrate Biosensor may be better choice in many situations, since few
other chemical will interfere with its function, making it more reliable.
The NECi Nitrate Biosensor makes possible an interesting array of new
approaches to monitoring nitrate. For
example, it is difficult to monitor changes in nitrate content of natural water,
especially in remote locations. The
Nitrate Biosensor would help in solving this problem by enabling monitoring of
nitrate levels and reporting it even from remote places.
Remote monitoring would allow reporting of changes in a stream or estuary
at many locations on a daily or hourly basis. For the homeowner using a septic tank, a rise in the nitrate
in the effluent from the tank could be monitored with the Nitrate Biosensor.
An alarm could be sounded when high nitrate content in the effluent is
detected, alerting the homeowner that the septic tank needs maintenance. For more information, call Ms. Campbell
directly at 906/296-1000.
|
|
Last Modified: December 30, 2008 Website Map Copyright © 1995-2007; 2008; 2009 The Nitrate Elimination Co., Inc.; All Rights Reserved |