Automatic at-sea system enabling quantification and tracking of benthic micro-algae ostreopis toxicity level – SIQUOMOR

The SIQUOMOR project will conceive, build and test at sea an autonomous bio-analysis system that will sample daily, over a week-long period, microalgae from benthic mucilaginous deposits. The system will lyse collected cells and run a set of biological tests to quantifiy the presence of toxic microalgae of the genus Ostreopsis and their related toxins, palytoxin and analogues (ovatoxines). SIQUOMOR will establish a proof of concept of an immersed biological system by building on an interdisciplinary state-of-the-art. 1-We will combine existing knowledge in oceanography and chemical ecology and automate existing state of the art Ostreopsis collection techniques. 2-We will ensure long term stability of the immersed system by mounting the cell collection tray onto a piezoelectric based biofouling prevention platform. 3- A cell lysis chamber to concentrate and lyse microalgal cells will be designed and tested 4- The cell lysis chamber will be equipped with a commercial-grade biological sensor unit that will operate 16 biosensors, each functionalized using different aptamers against palytoxin (and derivates) and other specific cellular compounds allowing to differentiate Ostreopis cf. siamensis and O. cf. ovata, only the latter being toxic to humans. SIQUOMOR will accelerate field deployment in three ways: a- Relying on hardened TRL-elevated or commercial technologies to reduce failure rate; b- Simple prototype design so to produce small pre-serie of deployable systems; c-Qualification on various sensitive sites. The output of the immersed SIQUOMOR system at sea is the daily Palytoxin and Analogue Concentration (PAC) and the relative abundance of Ostreopsis cf. ovata species (toxic) versus Ostreopsis cf. siamensis (non-toxic) for the site. The output of the SIQUOMOR project is the collaborative construction alongside bathing water quality managers and health authorities of a daily beach dangerousness indicator, precious asset for toxic algal blooms risk management.