FREDsense – building better biosensors

The development of petroleum-related industries around the world has lead to large amounts of environmental contamination. Alberta, Canada is faced with a specific challenge: the development of petroleum-related industries has led to large volumes of contaminated water, requiring extensive monitoring and remediation before the eventual release of this water back into the environment. Currently, methods of monitoring are either too slow, labour intensive, or inaccurately report on the toxicity of the sample.

With increasing government regulation in the petroleum industry, the time for new technology is now. The 2013 Calgary Entrepreneurial team is advancing an electrochemical biosensor for petroleum-related toxins through our early venture: FREDsense. Using a unique sensing platform, our technology is faster, more quantitative, and capable of operating in environments where existing biosensors cannot. With collaborations in both industry and government, we are building better biosensors for the needs of the present, as well as the future.