DTU-Denmark 2024 - EndoSense
Detecting endocrine-disrupting compounds to safeguard our water and health.
Emergence of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in Denmark’s drinking-water and groundwater systems has reached alarming levels: nearly half of drinking-water boreholes contain pesticide residues or other pollutants, and a significant portion exceed safe limits for chemical contaminants. Among the most insidious of these are bisphenol A, octylphenol, and related plasticizers and cleaning-agent by-products that disrupt hormonal systems in humans and wildlife alike. The EndoSense project is our response. We developed a novel biosensing platform by combining hormone-receptor based detection with a fluorescent RNA aptamer (Broccoli) and a custom NLP-based software tool called SENTINEL to interpret chemical-target relationships from literature. Our goal is to provide a rapid, cost-effective method for monitoring EDCs in drinking water, wastewater and the environment, enhancing human health, protecting ecosystems and supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals around clean water, health, and life below water.