Volpetti, FrancescaPetrova, EkaterinaMaerkl, Sebastian J.2018-01-152018-01-152018-01-15201710.1021/acssynbio.7b00088https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/143908WOS:000416204100001Synthetically engineered cells are powerful and potentially useful biosensors, but it remains problematic to deploy such systems due to practical difficulties and biosafety concerns. To overcome these hurdles, we developed a microfluidic device that serves as an interface between an engineered cellular system, environment, and user. We created a biodisplay consisting of 768 individually programmable biopixels and demonstrated that it can perform multiplexed, continuous sampling. The biodisplay detected 10 mu g/L sodium-arsenite in tap water using a research grade fluorescent microscope, and reported arsenic contamination down to 20 mu g/L with an easy to interpret "skull and crossbones" symbol detectable with a low-cost USB microscope or by eye. The biodisplay was designed to prevent release of chemical or biological material to avoid environmental contamination. The microfluidic biodisplay thus provides a practical solution for the deployment and application of engineered cellular systems.microfluidicsenvironmental sensorheavy metal sensorarsenicbiodisplaycontinuous bacterial culturingtext::journal::journal article::research article