HK Joint School

Our Product: PestiGuard
The Smart Aptamer
Biosensor

Our goals

  • Develop affordable, accessible pesticide detection technology for agricultural use
  • Promote food safety through reliable, on-site testing capabilities
  • Create an integrated system combining synthetic biology with user-friendly hardware and software
  • Enable informed decision-making for healthier agricultural practices
  • Provide cost-effective testing at <$1 per sample with results within 24 hours

Societal Problems

1 - Health Impacts of Pesticides

It is shown that a strong link between pesticide exposure and increased risk of cancers such as leukemia, thyroid, and brain cancers.

2 - Difficulty in Detecting Pesticides

Conventional methods used in detecting pesticides residues such as gas chromatography incur high costs and require lengthy time needed for detection.

3 - Widespread Pesticides Uses

According to the Hong Kong Consumer Council, 75 of the 127 samples of vegetables were claimed to be organic, of which 28 (37%) were found to contain pesticide residues.

Our solution: The Smart Aptamer Biosensor - PestiGuard

We used a specialized aptamer for the binding of target pesticides, which then disrupts the expression of a reporter gene and causes a loss of fluorescence.

By uploading the photo of the test result onto the companion app, its colour intensity will be compared with the calibrated safety reference bar and the pesticide level will be clearly displayed.