Toxsens

The new biosensors shall primary help to pre-enrich the anthropogenic ECDs to be able to analyze directly afterwards. This approach is less costly and more time-efficient than the conventional methods. Furthermore, the biosensor is portable enabling an on-site analytic.

The biosensor consists of a micro-fluidic part where specific antibodies will be immobilized. Thereby, anthropogenic harmful substances can be enriched by the antibody-antigen-reaction of water samples. Within the last years there has been an increased insertion of EDCs in the environment. This increased burden of the water resources has been caused by industrial processes, intensive agriculture, synthetic industrial chemicals and environmental accidents. Therefore, the importance of research in the field of new analytic procedures regarding anthropogenic harmful substances has been increased significantly over the last few years. In addition, traditional routine methods such as GC, HPLC, MS and/or UV/VIS spectrometry are time-consuming and costly as pre-enrichments of the harmful substances are often necessary.

The aim of the project is the development of immunoassay-based biosensors for a cost- and time efficient as well as for a sensitive simultaneous evidence of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) Mecoprop and Bisphenol A. ECDs are anthropogenic and hormone-similar harmful substances which influence the human hormone balance. Depending on species and harmful substances, small concentrations of ECDs can already lead to different hormonal-connected damages caused to health. Mecoprop is used on platform roofs as herbicides and can be found in the ground-water. Bisphenol A is a plastics additive which is employed worldwide and regularly.