Arsenic hides in our daily staple — rice. The U.S. FDA reports that 100% of rice samples contain traces of arsenic, a toxin linked to cancer and development issues. For babies under 2 years old, rice is the main source of arsenic exposure. Immediate action needed! Protecting families starts with detection.
Current Solutions
Current arsenic detecting relies on ICP-MS, a lab-based method requiring costly, complex equipment. Farmers and families rarely have access to it, meaning contaminated rice may already reach homes before detection happens.
The result? Detection is slow, uneven, and limited, leaving billions at risk.
Our Synbio Solution
RiceGuard brings detection out of the lab and into people’s hands.
Using a cell-free biosensor system, we can identify arsenic in rice within minutes – no living cells or bulky equipment needed.
Recombinant System Illustration
Our biosensor uses two plasmids. The first plasmid is our sense plasmid, which produces ArsR and ArsC using a constitutive promotor. ArsR is a protein that represses the promotor on our second plasmid, our Reporter Plasmid that will produce an RNA aptamer called F30-Broccoli, which binds with our flourophore (DHFBI-1T). Transcription only aptamers are produced much faster, resulting in very quick flourescence. The ArsC is a reducatse, which changes inorganic Arsenic (V) into Arsenic (III), both found in rice extract.
Once lyophilized, it can be reactivated by adding a single tiny drop of rice water extract, making detecting fast and simple.
RiceGuard App
RiceGuard uses a smartphone camera to measure fluorescence intensity, accurately quantifying arsenic levels in rice with instant digital readouts. By incorporating a UV light for excitation and a camera filter for emission, it ensures precise detection. This empowers families and farmers to test rice safety anytime, anywhere.
