Using state-of-the-art genosensing for oil leak detection: implementation and challenges

Monitoring of leak from subsea activities is an important task for safe operation and environmental protection and plays a key role in the overall management integrity for future operation in sensitive areas. There are a number of surveillance technologies currently available with various properties and limitations, and the research on new detector systems is still thriving. Biosensors defined as the integration of a biological signal to a device able to measure its amplitude, are mostly developed as a niche technology in the environmental market. They can afford the desired detector capabilities provided they have been properly designed/developed to recognize quickly biological changes related to specific changes in the environment. Biosensor technologies can especially be of interest for middle to small leakages where other technologies can prove more challenging. This presentation will address research aiming at demonstrating the use of a state-of-the-art robotized genosensor, the Environmental Sample Processor or ESP, for the real-time detection of specific microbes involved in oil biodegradation. The main conceptual idea behind this research is that the natural microbial community is highly sensitive to the presence of released hydrocarbons, and that rapid changes occur following contamination. Hence, the detection of specific oil-related microbes can be used as an effective biosensor of oil at sea following spill or leakage, and to follow up the environmental recovery in the aftermath. This research is developed in several phases: selection of specific microbial targets, quantification of targets using state-of-the-art gene-based protocols and assays mimicking those from the ESP, validation through laboratory oil-exposure and with ESP. Here, we will present some results obtained from this research with emphasis on the sensitivity, time of response and also trajectory and operational perspective with the ESP. Integrated with other contextual sensors, genosensors like the ESP can prove to be powerful and innovative tool to address environmental surveillance related to subsea operations.