Glowing Bacteria Light the Way to Clean Water

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 26, 2010) – Glowing bacteria can help assure a safe water supply, as research by University of Kentucky chemistry professor Sylvia Daunert, featured in the February 2010 issue of Popular Science magazine, demonstrates. Daunert has designed a prototype biosensor system capable of detecting toxins including arsenic, lead, anthrax and PCBs.

Bacteria are housed in the tip of a fiber-optic cable, which is dangled in the water supply. When the bacteria come in contact with a toxin, they glow. The light is carried along the fiber-optic cable to a monitoring station, where its intensity is measured to determine the concentration of toxic molecules.

Popular Science predicts that Daunert’s invention may become commercially available in two to five years.

Daunert, who teaches primarily in the UK College of Arts and Sciences, is the Gill Eminent Professor of Analytical and Biological Chemistry, professor of chemistry and professor of pharmaceutical sciences.