Argus Nanosensors Inside Plants by Harpreet Singh Sareen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 Silver A' Design Award in Cybernetics, Prosthesis and Implant Design Competition Category.
SilverCybernetics· 2021
Argus Nanosensors Inside Plants
Client: Parsons School of Design
Silver A' Design Award Winner in Cybernetics Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #106623The Design
About Argus Nanosensors Inside Plants
Argus is a water quality monitoring system based on a living plant. Nanosensors are injected into the leaves, where they remain within the intercellular space. The sensors produce a visible glow of a specific light wavelength. When lead from the surrounding water reaches the leaves, the glow is reduced, indicating that the water contains impurities. The plant samples water continuously and needs no electricity. A result appears within fifteen minutes to two hours, which is faster than laboratory testing.
The Recognition
About the Silver A' Design Award
Argus Nanosensors Inside Plants is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. Argus Nanosensors Inside Plants is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Argus Nanosensors Inside Plants is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
Where to Get It
Bio-Hybrid Sensing Systems and Ecological Technology Consulting
We develop innovative bio-hybrid solutions at the intersection of biology and technology. Our expertise in nanosensors, living systems, and environmental monitoring creates sustainable sensing platforms. From water quality monitoring to ecological machinery, we transform natural systems into intelligent sensors.
Contact UsBehind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Argus is a living plant that continuously monitors water for heavy metal impurities, with nanosensors inside its leaves. These sensors, of the order 2nm, are injected inside the leaves and stay within the intercellular space. A living plant continuously samples water in the environment and any impurities that come along with it. Such method of detecting heavy metal toxicity is real time, showing a visible output within 15mins to 2 hours, in contrast to current lab methods.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 457mm x 821mm x 304mm
This includes height of the plant and the imaging setup to read from inside a plant - Tags
- nanosensors, carbon nanotubes, living plants, DNA, water monitoring
- Production Technology
- Argus is a plant with DNA nanosensors inside it that detects Lead (Pb2 Heavy Metal). This novel method allows living plants to provide an optical readout of Lead in water. First, a DNAZyme is used as sensor assay inside leaves, double stranded DNA that breaks into single stranded on contact with Pb2 and binds to single walled carbon nanotubes. Following introduction of Pb2 ions, the fluorescence output is quenched and this reduction is proportional to the Lead(II) concentration.
- Design Challenge
- The following challenges had to be overcome to create world's first electricity free water monitoring platform.
No current real time off the shelf sensors exist for Lead toxicity monitoring. Sample testing takes approximately 1 to 2 weeks.
The chemical sensors inside plants also needed a digital connection with the digital world.
This sensor scheme did not have to use electricity, since it relies on a plant acting like a motor. Such process is then able to sample water 24 hours a day. - Research
- Industrial waste management has lead to depletion of water quality in rivers in many regions. Current processes of monitoring the water quality are not realtime. Our traditional sensors have been centered around synthetic and completely artificial techniques. We propose new nanosensors providing auxiliary sensing in conjunction with the natural system of a plant. These nanosensors provide an optical readout of lead in water by relying on a plants natural function near riverbeds.
- Inspiration
- This project is motivated by Flint water crisis, New Jersey school water problems, Austin Mar 2019 water advisory and many more. Current trend shows that by the time impurities are usually found in residential or agricultural, it is too late and has previously proven to be fatal. This is because continuous, cheap or off the shelf monitoring methods along river beds do not exist today. Argus on the other hand, provides an electricity free fully continuous water monitoring platform.
- Project Duration
- This project was stated in 2017 and finished in 2019. It has been exhibited around the world such as Science Gallery Bangalore, Future of Everything WSJ Festival in NYC.
- Operation Flow
- Argus has nanonsensors injected inside the leaves of a living plant. A plant is like a natural motor in the environment operating twenty four hours without electricity. It continuously samples water and with that any impurities as well. Our nanosensors normally produce a visible glow of a specific light wavelength on the plant. When lead impurities from the environment come in contact with the nanosensors, this glow disappears to indicate that there are impurities in the environment.
- Team Members
- Harpreet Sareen
Pattie Maes - Image Credits
- Images: Harpreet Sareen CC 4.0
Motion graphics: Jiefu Zheng
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