NCCOS scientists recently visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) for hands-on training on the embedded Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), a bio-sensing technology which is deployed on the 3rd Generation Environmental Processor (3G ESP). This tool allows scientists to detect harmful algal bloom toxins directly in the field, providing rapid, near real-time results that are critical for protecting ecosystems, fisheries, and public health.
Historically, NCCOS has produced specialized toxin-detection surfaces for this SPR/3G ESP sensor-sampler system, but MBARI staff have handled the preparation and deployment of the system in autonomous underwater and surface vehicles. This training marked the transition of the deployment responsibility to NCCOS. Beginning in October 2025, NCCOS will receive an embedded SPR from MBARI and take responsibility for calibrating, preparing, and integrating the system into the 3G ESP for future deployments.
During the training, scientists learned key procedures for attaching NCCOS’ toxin-detection surfaces to the SPR chips to enable toxin detection while ensuring proper calibration, inserting the chips into the embedded SPR, running the embedded SPR, and securing components for leak-free shipping. MBARI also built a benchtop version of the 3G ESP multi-cartridge system for NCCOS, which will allow researchers to validate the full workflow (from extraction to toxin detection) back in the laboratory and develop new methods for detecting additional algal toxins. To improve performance, MBARI designed new extraction cartridges with three syringes instead of two, allowing highly toxic samples to be diluted into the standard measurement range. This improvement increases both the accuracy of results and the number of samples that can be analyzed in near real time. The scientists received training on assembling and using these updated cartridges.
Before visiting MBARI, NCCOS scientists also participated in a one-day training at Stanford University on nanophotonics arrays. These arrays have the potential to expand the ESP’s capabilities from detecting a single toxin to identifying multiple toxins, toxin-producing genes, and RNA from harmful algal bloom species. The team also explored ways to enhance signal sensitivity using NCCOS’s existing antibody-based detection methods.
These advancements will expand NCCOS’s capacity to detect and quantify harmful algal bloom toxins in the field, providing more comprehensive monitoring for coastal ecosystems.
This work is part of an ongoing project and authorized under the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 4001 et seq.).