Novel biospectroscopy sensor technologies towards environmental health monitoring in urban environments Blessing E. Obinaju, Francis L. Martin * Centre for Biophotonics, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK article info Article history: Received 8 August 2012 Received in revised form 15 November 2012 Accepted 18 November 2012 Keywords: Biochemical-cell fingerprint Biospectroscopy Computational analysis Fourier-transform infrared Infrared spectra Sentinel organism abstract Biospectroscopy is an emerging inter-disciplinary field that exploits the application of sensor technol- ogies [e.g., Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy] to lend novel insights into biological questions. Methods involved are relatively non-destructive so samples can subsequently be analysed by more conventional approaches, facilitating deeper mechanistic insights. Fingerprint spectra are derived and these consist of wavenumbereabsorbance intensities; within a typical biological experiment, a complex dataset is quickly generated. Biological samples range from biofluids to cytology to tissues derived from human or sentinel sources, and analyses can be carried out ex vivo or in situ in living tissue. A reference range of a designated normal state can be derived; anything outside this is potentially atypical and discriminating chemical entities identified. Computational approaches allow one to minimize within-category confounding factors. Because of ease of sample preparation, low-cost and high-throughput capability, biospectroscopy approaches herald a new greener means of environmental health monitoring in urban environments. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Urbanization is a complex phenomenon giving rise to a large array of changes in environmental and lifestyle factors (Zhu et al., 2011). Urban environmental pollution is greatly increased by human and industrial activities; as a consequence, such settings are often used as a focal point for contamination studies (Callender and Rice, 1999). Emissions from industrial/municipal activities as well as the use of motor vehicles increase the need for biomonitoring of environmental contaminants, particularly within urban settings. Environmental contamination and pollution may occur on land, in water or in air. According to Satterthwaite (1993), Waller (1991) identified urban air contaminants to include smoke/suspended particulates, sulphur dioxide, sulphuric acid, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and some heavy metals. Most of these listed contaminants are found to be present in soil (Morillo et al., 2007) and water with increased contaminant concentrations in industrial areas (Li et al., 2001; Zhang et al., 2005). The effects of exposure to listed contaminants on health possibly arise from their ability to be readily absorbed following inhalation or ingestion and distributed within the systemic circulation. This underlies the need for indicators (or biomarkers), which correlate the presence of these contaminants within the environment and possible health outcomes; insight into mechanism(s) of action are also critical. In addition, another major consideration within urban environmental settings is the pathophysiology of viral or bacterial infection mechanisms; novel sensors could track pathogens or readily identify infected tissues or organisms. This review examines the possible role of bio- spectroscopy techniques and approaches as a novel sensor-based technology for application in a wide range of contexts that could relate to environmental health monitoring in urban environments. There is an urgent need for low-cost, high-throughput, and contamination-free biosensor technologies. 1.1. Biomarkers of health status in urban environments Environmental contaminants are thought to induce certain structural and conformational alterations in biomolecules (e.g., DNA, protein), exerting their toxic potential via diverse mechanisms including endocrine disruption, genotoxicity, epigenetic alterations and immunosuppression (Smits et al., 2002; Østby et al., 2005; Grandjean and Landrigan, 2006; Tian et al., 2012). Hence, such alterations can be exploited as indicators which provide information regarding the presence of or exposure to an environmental contaminant (Vinzents et al., 2005; Malins et al., 2006). Biological * Corresponding author. E-mail address: f.martin@lancaster.ac.uk (F.L. Martin). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Environmental Pollution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envpol 0269-7491/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.11.011 Environmental Pollution 183 (2013) 46e53