NA24OARX021G0032
Project Grant
Overview
Grant Description
Purpose: Climate change is having a profound and concerning effect on aquatic ecosystems, with coastal waters experiencing progressive warming, acidification, and deoxygenation.
The impacts of damaging events such as harmful algae blooms (HABs) are expected to increase over the coming century.
HABs have the potential to not only drastically impact public health but also to devastate recreation, tourism, aquaculture, and the overall ecosystem.
The development of a sensitive sensor platform for the continuous monitoring of water for cyanotoxins would facilitate the early detection and prediction of HAB events, enabling early action and reducing the costs, environmental damage, and economic damage commonly associated with HABs.
We will develop a nanobody-based biosensor strain along with a continuous biosensor platform that will be able to detect and quantify the cyanotoxin microcystin in real time.
Importantly, this approach will lead to a pipeline for developing sensors for countless toxins and contaminants, as once we have demonstrated proof of principle with the development of a sensor for microcystin detection, we can swap in new nanobodies to detect new targets of interest.
Water pollution is a widespread problem that is growing in both impact and awareness, and there is an increasing need for in-line, location specific contaminant measurements to help localize problems, identify their sources, verify compliance with discharge limits, and monitor harmful events and remediation efforts.
Therefore, the market for in-line contaminant sensors is multi-faceted, with potential customers in the food industry, environmental monitoring, drinking water safety, and wastewater remediation.
Due to the customizable nature of our platform, we will pursue many industries as we expand our business, with a particular focus on water quality and safety testing.
Importantly, our Phase I project will prove technical feasibility for this novel nanobody-based sensing approach, and in Phase II we will add the ability to detect additional toxins as well as refine the platform for commercial manufacturing and sales.
The impacts of damaging events such as harmful algae blooms (HABs) are expected to increase over the coming century.
HABs have the potential to not only drastically impact public health but also to devastate recreation, tourism, aquaculture, and the overall ecosystem.
The development of a sensitive sensor platform for the continuous monitoring of water for cyanotoxins would facilitate the early detection and prediction of HAB events, enabling early action and reducing the costs, environmental damage, and economic damage commonly associated with HABs.
We will develop a nanobody-based biosensor strain along with a continuous biosensor platform that will be able to detect and quantify the cyanotoxin microcystin in real time.
Importantly, this approach will lead to a pipeline for developing sensors for countless toxins and contaminants, as once we have demonstrated proof of principle with the development of a sensor for microcystin detection, we can swap in new nanobodies to detect new targets of interest.
Water pollution is a widespread problem that is growing in both impact and awareness, and there is an increasing need for in-line, location specific contaminant measurements to help localize problems, identify their sources, verify compliance with discharge limits, and monitor harmful events and remediation efforts.
Therefore, the market for in-line contaminant sensors is multi-faceted, with potential customers in the food industry, environmental monitoring, drinking water safety, and wastewater remediation.
Due to the customizable nature of our platform, we will pursue many industries as we expand our business, with a particular focus on water quality and safety testing.
Importantly, our Phase I project will prove technical feasibility for this novel nanobody-based sensing approach, and in Phase II we will add the ability to detect additional toxins as well as refine the platform for commercial manufacturing and sales.
Awardee
Funding Goals
18 CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION 19 WEATHER-READY NATION 20 HEALTHY OCEANS 21 RESILIENT COASTAL COMMUNITIES AND ECONOMIES
Grant Program (CFDA)
Awarding / Funding Agency
Place of Performance
Solana Beach,
California
920752061
United States
Geographic Scope
Single Zip Code
Related Opportunity
Analysis Notes
Amendment Since initial award the End Date has been extended from 11/30/24 to 01/30/25.
Quantitative Biosciences was awarded
Project Grant NA24OARX021G0032
worth $175,000
from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in June 2024 with work to be completed primarily in Solana Beach California United States.
The grant
has a duration of 7 months and
was awarded through assistance program 11.021 NOAA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.
The Project Grant was awarded through grant opportunity NOAA SBIR FY 2024 Phase I.
SBIR Details
Research Type
SBIR Phase I
Title
A Customizable Nanobody-Based Biosensor For Real-Time Cyanotoxin Detection
Abstract
Climate change is having a profound and concerning effect on aquatic ecosystems, with coastal waters experiencing progressive warming, acidification, and deoxygenation, and the impacts of damaging events such as Harmful Algae Blooms (HABs) are expected to increase over the coming century. HABs have the potential to not only drastically impact public health but also to devastate recreation, tourism, aquaculture, and the overall ecosystem. The development of a sensitive sensor platform for the continuous monitoring of water for cyanotoxins would facilitate the early detection and prediction of HAB events, enabling early action and reducing the costs, environmental damage, and economic damage commonly associated with HABs. We will develop a nanobody-based biosensor strain along with a continuous biosensor platform that will be able to detect and quantify the cyanotoxin microcystin in real time. Importantly, this approach will lead to a pipeline for developing sensors for countless toxins and contaminants, as once we have demonstrated proof of principle with the development of a sensor for microcystin detection, we can swap in a new nanobodies to detect new targets of interest.
Topic Code
9.2
Solicitation Number
NOAA-OAR-TPO-2024-2008184
Status
(Complete)
Last Modified 7/21/25
Period of Performance
6/1/24
Start Date
1/30/25
End Date
Funding Split
$175.0K
Federal Obligation
$0.0
Non-Federal Obligation
$175.0K
Total Obligated
Activity Timeline
Transaction History
Modifications to NA24OARX021G0032
Additional Detail
Award ID FAIN
NA24OARX021G0032
SAI Number
NA24OARX021G0032-003
Award ID URI
None
Awardee Classifications
Small Business
Awarding Office
1305N2 DEPT OF COMMERCE NOAA
Funding Office
1333BR OFC OF PROG.PLANNING&INTEGRATION
Awardee UEI
GCSEC2AUEGJ3
Awardee CAGE
62R78
Performance District
CA-49
Senators
Dianne Feinstein
Alejandro Padilla
Alejandro Padilla
Modified: 7/21/25