Naomi Cooper
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has issued a broad agency announcement for a new program to develop microbial sensing devices for use in environmental monitoring activities.
Tellus is aimed at creating an interactive methodology to design microbial sense-and-respond devices to detect a range of chemical and physical signals, collect and process the information and generate output signals in Department of Defense-relevant environments, DARPA said Friday.
According to the agency, microbes, such as fungi and bacteria, can potentially detect and convert both chemical and physical signals.
“Ultimately, we envision a dashboard or interface where a user would dial in features of their environment, the inputs they want to detect, and the output signals that are useful to them, and the system would design a safe, effective microbial device to meet those needs,” said Linda Chrisey, program manager of Tellus.
Sensor functionality will be tested across different environments and conditions during the course of the program.
