NEWMAT

The detection of algal toxins in environmental waters, in particular in lake water, is an important challenge in public health. As concerns the phenomenon of cyanobacterial bloom, toxins such as microcystine LR can be liberated into the water by the bacteria. These toxins are dangerous for animals and humans essentially because of the risk of ingestion of contaminated water. It is thus crucial in the preliminary phases of a cyanobacterial bloom to determine if this bloom leads to a release of toxins in the water. The NEWMAT project which constitutes the scientific foundation of the present response to the MRSEI call aims at developing an autonomous aquatic rover equipped with three types of algal toxin captors coupled to a wireless network of very low-cost captors localised on the shores of the lake under study. The coastal network of captors will determine any changes in the organoleptic properties of the water (mainly the turbidity and colour) and thus guides the patrol path of the automatic rover to those areas in which a cyanobacterial bloom is suspected. Any physico-chemical analyses initiated by the rover will determine and quantify the possible presence of algal toxins, essentially of the microcystine family, the most present toxins under such circumstances. Via a wireless communications system, the rover will transmit the information to a data collection and treatment centre. The personnel within this centre will then be able to undertake, in real time, the required remediation protocols against the cyanobacteria without the need to call upon public health entities responsible for protecting the users of the lake. The rover will be equipped with three captor technologies to be developed: i) a fluorescent captor based on specific marker techniques; ii) a captor using the surface-enhanced Raman(SERS) effect comprising an organised system of noble metal nanoparticles held within a specific matrix so as to avoid any release of these particles in the water during analysis; iii) a bioelectrochemical captor calling upon a specific enzymatic reaction of microcystine LR constituted of carbon nanotubes functionalised by an antigen and deposited on an electrode. These advanced captors using nanomaterials constitute an original approach, little-explored in the literature for the quantification of toxins. The use of three captors for the simultaneous analysis of a given sample will allow extending the linear range of the toxin concentration measurements and obviously allows for crossed validation. The development of these captors will necessitate international expertise in the functionalisation of nanomaterials and their integration into robust and reliable devices. The construction of the aquatic rover will require expertise in the conception of optoelectronics systems and in optical spectroscopy. Making full use of the information contained in the data coming from the real water samples will also require the use of pertinent signal treatment algorithms. The network system of low-cost captors is based on well-known LED technology but will require optimisation in coastal site-localisation to overcome seasonal fluctuations of the level of the lake. An expertise in sensor networks is thus also a prerequisite for the success of the project. This project is thus strongly multidisciplinary and requires establishing solid contacts among the future participants. The framework established by the MRSEI tool is of great interest to finance the setup of such a European network of expertise so as to best develop a solid consortium in the aim of depositing a realisable European project.