Biomeme, Cornell, & Safer Beaches

Ruth Richardson Ph.D., an Associate Professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University, is working with Biomeme to develop a new water monitoring technology that could significantly reduce the time that swim areas must close when water is suspected of being unswimmable due to bacteria levels.

Richardson's lab is utilizing Biomeme's portable real-time PCR Franklin™ thermocycler which allows you to test up to 27 samples and field-ready lyophilized Go-Strips. This allows the team to achieve gold-standard results at the point-of-sample. This approach to testing could lower the time to result for beach water tests from 24 to 30 hours down to 90 minutes or less. This improvement will allow for better monitoring of biological water quality. In addition, having fast accurate results can allow for real-time safety measures to be taken. 

CREDIT LINDSAY HADLOCK / CORNELL UNIVERSITY

View the system in action

Richardson was also interviewed by NPR affiliate WAER's Scott Willis about her work:

“It’s done on a handheld device that you charge before you head out into the field and runs off of cellphones," Richardson said. "The cellphone runs off of the software and collects the data.  So, it’s rapid, but it also can be done right on sight. There is no need to transport to a centralized laboratory.”

For the full interview visit WAER's website.

To learn more about the project read this article from the Cornell Chronicle.

Are you interested in running your own real-time PCR test using the Biomeme platform? Check out our full suite of end-to-end real-time PCR products - from DNA and RNA purification to running a test at the point of sample on a hand-held PCR thermocycler to finally analyzing your real-time PCR test results - here.

Do you need to take your assay into the field, but you don't see an existing test on our website? We offer an open platform for quick on-site real-time PCR - you bring the primers; we’ll bring the master mix. Contact us to develop your assay for the Biomeme platform here.