A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities

Autores
Prudkin-Silva, C.; Lanzarotti, E.; Álvarez, L.; Vallerga, M. B.; Factorovich, M.; Morzán, U.; Gómez, M.; González, N.; Acosta, Y.; Carrizo, F.; Carrizo, E.; Galeano, S.; Lagorio, M. G.; Juárez, A. B.; Ithuralde, Raúl Esteban; Romero, J. M.; Urdampilleta, C.
Año de publicación
2021
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
New anthropic potentially harmful compounds are released into the environment everyday. In this context, broad range bioassays have emerged providing economically viable and widely applicable alternatives due to their ability to detect the cumulative toxicity of mixtures of both known and unknown chemicals in a sample, thus allowing direct information about water quality. Here we present a low-cost, wide-range algae-based biosensor that is easy to assemble and operate by untrained users and provides direct readings. It was developed as a request of a peasant social movement organization to assess the toxicity of drinking water in rural communities affected by pesticide spraying. Two fresh water algae strains, Scenedesmus acutus and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, were immobilized in alginate beads and tested as bioindicators. After incubation with different pollutants for five days, naked eye analysis by several observers proved to be a successful method to survey algae’s growth and establish the detection limits. Best detection limits were 10 ppm for technical-grade acid glyphosate, 15 ppm for glyphosate-based formulation, 50 ppb for atrazine formulation, 7.5 ppm for copper and 250 ppb for chromium. Absorbance measurements upon algae resuspension validated these results. The developed device was successfully tested in participatory workshops conducted at rural communities. Children, adults and elders with no scientific training were able to build the sensor and interpret the results, thus evaluating the quality of rain and well water used in their communities.
Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Materia
Ciencias Exactas
Pesticide detection
Rural communities
Absorbance
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/116409

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spelling A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communitiesPrudkin-Silva, C.Lanzarotti, E.Álvarez, L.Vallerga, M. B.Factorovich, M.Morzán, U.Gómez, M.González, N.Acosta, Y.Carrizo, F.Carrizo, E.Galeano, S.Lagorio, M. G.Juárez, A. B.Ithuralde, Raúl EstebanRomero, J. M.Urdampilleta, C.Ciencias ExactasPesticide detectionRural communitiesAbsorbanceNew anthropic potentially harmful compounds are released into the environment everyday. In this context, broad range bioassays have emerged providing economically viable and widely applicable alternatives due to their ability to detect the cumulative toxicity of mixtures of both known and unknown chemicals in a sample, thus allowing direct information about water quality. Here we present a low-cost, wide-range algae-based biosensor that is easy to assemble and operate by untrained users and provides direct readings. It was developed as a request of a peasant social movement organization to assess the toxicity of drinking water in rural communities affected by pesticide spraying. Two fresh water algae strains, Scenedesmus acutus and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, were immobilized in alginate beads and tested as bioindicators. After incubation with different pollutants for five days, naked eye analysis by several observers proved to be a successful method to survey algae’s growth and establish the detection limits. Best detection limits were 10 ppm for technical-grade acid glyphosate, 15 ppm for glyphosate-based formulation, 50 ppb for atrazine formulation, 7.5 ppm for copper and 250 ppb for chromium. Absorbance measurements upon algae resuspension validated these results. The developed device was successfully tested in participatory workshops conducted at rural communities. Children, adults and elders with no scientific training were able to build the sensor and interpret the results, thus evaluating the quality of rain and well water used in their communities.Universidad Nacional de Santiago del EsteroConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2021-03-13info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/116409enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/2352-1864info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.eti.2021.101479info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T11:27:14Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/116409Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 11:27:14.633SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
title A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
spellingShingle A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
Prudkin-Silva, C.
Ciencias Exactas
Pesticide detection
Rural communities
Absorbance
title_short A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
title_full A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
title_fullStr A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
title_full_unstemmed A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
title_sort A cost-effective algae-based biosensor for water quality analysis: Development and testing in collaboration with peasant communities
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Prudkin-Silva, C.
Lanzarotti, E.
Álvarez, L.
Vallerga, M. B.
Factorovich, M.
Morzán, U.
Gómez, M.
González, N.
Acosta, Y.
Carrizo, F.
Carrizo, E.
Galeano, S.
Lagorio, M. G.
Juárez, A. B.
Ithuralde, Raúl Esteban
Romero, J. M.
Urdampilleta, C.
author Prudkin-Silva, C.
author_facet Prudkin-Silva, C.
Lanzarotti, E.
Álvarez, L.
Vallerga, M. B.
Factorovich, M.
Morzán, U.
Gómez, M.
González, N.
Acosta, Y.
Carrizo, F.
Carrizo, E.
Galeano, S.
Lagorio, M. G.
Juárez, A. B.
Ithuralde, Raúl Esteban
Romero, J. M.
Urdampilleta, C.
author_role author
author2 Lanzarotti, E.
Álvarez, L.
Vallerga, M. B.
Factorovich, M.
Morzán, U.
Gómez, M.
González, N.
Acosta, Y.
Carrizo, F.
Carrizo, E.
Galeano, S.
Lagorio, M. G.
Juárez, A. B.
Ithuralde, Raúl Esteban
Romero, J. M.
Urdampilleta, C.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ciencias Exactas
Pesticide detection
Rural communities
Absorbance
topic Ciencias Exactas
Pesticide detection
Rural communities
Absorbance
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv New anthropic potentially harmful compounds are released into the environment everyday. In this context, broad range bioassays have emerged providing economically viable and widely applicable alternatives due to their ability to detect the cumulative toxicity of mixtures of both known and unknown chemicals in a sample, thus allowing direct information about water quality. Here we present a low-cost, wide-range algae-based biosensor that is easy to assemble and operate by untrained users and provides direct readings. It was developed as a request of a peasant social movement organization to assess the toxicity of drinking water in rural communities affected by pesticide spraying. Two fresh water algae strains, Scenedesmus acutus and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, were immobilized in alginate beads and tested as bioindicators. After incubation with different pollutants for five days, naked eye analysis by several observers proved to be a successful method to survey algae’s growth and establish the detection limits. Best detection limits were 10 ppm for technical-grade acid glyphosate, 15 ppm for glyphosate-based formulation, 50 ppb for atrazine formulation, 7.5 ppm for copper and 250 ppb for chromium. Absorbance measurements upon algae resuspension validated these results. The developed device was successfully tested in participatory workshops conducted at rural communities. Children, adults and elders with no scientific training were able to build the sensor and interpret the results, thus evaluating the quality of rain and well water used in their communities.
Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
description New anthropic potentially harmful compounds are released into the environment everyday. In this context, broad range bioassays have emerged providing economically viable and widely applicable alternatives due to their ability to detect the cumulative toxicity of mixtures of both known and unknown chemicals in a sample, thus allowing direct information about water quality. Here we present a low-cost, wide-range algae-based biosensor that is easy to assemble and operate by untrained users and provides direct readings. It was developed as a request of a peasant social movement organization to assess the toxicity of drinking water in rural communities affected by pesticide spraying. Two fresh water algae strains, Scenedesmus acutus and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, were immobilized in alginate beads and tested as bioindicators. After incubation with different pollutants for five days, naked eye analysis by several observers proved to be a successful method to survey algae’s growth and establish the detection limits. Best detection limits were 10 ppm for technical-grade acid glyphosate, 15 ppm for glyphosate-based formulation, 50 ppb for atrazine formulation, 7.5 ppm for copper and 250 ppb for chromium. Absorbance measurements upon algae resuspension validated these results. The developed device was successfully tested in participatory workshops conducted at rural communities. Children, adults and elders with no scientific training were able to build the sensor and interpret the results, thus evaluating the quality of rain and well water used in their communities.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021-03-13
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.eti.2021.101479
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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