PFASense: Fast, In-Field Testing for Forever Chemicals

The Problem

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of “forever chemicals,” are synthetic compounds that have been used since the 1940s to manufacture products like nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, food packaging, and many more. While they have helpful properties, PFAS do not readily degrade in the environment or the human body. As a result, they have accumulated in drinking water, soil, wildlife, and even in the blood of an estimated 97% of Americans, posing substantial risk to human and environmental health.

Exposure to PFAS has been linked to cancers, liver damage, immune dysfunction, and developmental issues. Despite the scale of contamination, testing remains expensive and slow. The current gold standard requires shipping water samples to specialized labs, and measuring their PFAS contents via instrument-heavy chemical chromatography methods at costs up to $400 per sample and turnaround times of up to three weeks. No affordable, portable diagnostic is currently commercially available for on-site PFAS monitoring, leaving communities without timely information to guide safety measures or remediation efforts. 

Our Solution

We’re developing PFASense, a portable, protein-based biosensor device that makes PFAS detection simple, fast, and affordable. The team uses protein-engineering methods to tailor naturally occurring proteins from bacteria, called “transcription factors,” to change their shape upon binding to PFAS molecules and thus become activated. The activated biosensor proteins couple to a synthetic biology circuit in which they switch on the production of a programmable reporter whose signal corresponds to the amount of PFAS in the sample. Embedded in an electrochemical sensing device that rapidly converts the reporter signal into an electrical readout, without the need for bulky lab equipment, PFASense could deliver inexpensive and accurate PFAS measurements within minutes rather than weeks. 

Wyss Effect 

PFASense originated in the lab of Wyss Core Faculty member Pamela Silver, Ph.D., with postdoctoral fellow Simon d’Oelsnitz, Ph.D. leading the effort. As part of the 2024-2025 Wyss Institute Validation Project class, the team successfully identified and characterized a biosensor responsive to PFAS analogs, established a dedicated PFAS testing infrastructure at the Wyss, and validated the concept of protein-based PFAS detection.

The team was awarded second-year Validation Project support, which allows them now to expand their efforts through a collaboration with Don Ingber’s lab, to integrate their PFAS biosensors with the Wyss’ eRapid electrochemical platform and convert the chemical biosensor activity into an electrical signal that can be read out in a portable digital device. The PFASense team also engaged with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and other stakeholders to ensure the technology is tailored to real-world needs. 

Impact 

PFASense has the potential to empower communities, environmental agencies, and regulators with an affordable, portable tool to identify PFAS water contamination in real time. Faster, easier testing could help prioritize remediation efforts, safeguard drinking water, and reduce public health risks from these persistent pollutants. 

Additionally, this technology could also potentially be used to test PFAS concentrations in soil, livestock, and even in clinically relevant biological fluids. The Wyss’ unique model of combining cutting-edge science and engineering with translational support, enables us to accelerate PFASense toward real-world applications.