Portable, Early Warning for Cyanobacterial Blooms

Objective

Harmful algal blooms, in particular toxic cyanobacterial blooms, pose severe environmental threats to water security, public health, and local economies. BloomSCAN is a portable field instrument that turns a few millilitres of lake water into a risk assessment on harmful cyanobacterial blooms within minutes. Building directly on ERC-StG project FluMAB, it combines Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)-enabled 3D colony morphology measurements, an on-cartridge toxin screen, and on-device AI to identify taxa and compute a physics-based buoyancy/scum-formation risk score. We will demonstrate the feasibility and innovation potential of this integrated approach, and de-risk the route to adoption by water authorities. We will design and assemble an integrated prototype (optics + chemical assay + embedded AI + physic-informed prediction algorithm), validate analytical performance in bench tests (detection and quantification limits for microcystins and anatoxin; repeatability and drift with on-cartridge controls), and run multi-site pilots with Dutch water boards and applied institutes. Success will be measured by time-to-decision of less than minutes, agreement with accredited laboratory methods, toxin sensitivity at WHO/EPA-relevant levels, and a risk score that outperforms pigment proxies; we will also deliver SOPs, a technical validation report, and a pilot-to-purchase playbook. Expected outcomes are advancement from TRL 3 to TRL 4 and from CRL 2 to CRL 4, filed IP on the trait-to-risk algorithm, OCT integration and device design, and a commercialization pathway. BloomSCAN will change current practice by establishing a new standard for algal bloom diagnostics, enabling real-time decision-making at the shoreline, and opening a market segment for in-situ, rapid diagnostics, delivered through a single, easy-to-use field decision tool for water authorities.