Polydiacetylene's Effect on Eukaryotic Cell Growth, Viability, and Mutagenesis

Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are frequent in many healthcare settings and cost the United States billions of dollars in medical spending each year. While UTIs have quickly become more concerning due to resistance to conventional interventions or difficultly in sample collection, development of rapid and effective diagnostic methods have been slow to develop. A possible solution could be to use diapers embedded with a polydiacetylene (PDA) biosensor to detect UTIs. This sensor has the potential to be sensitive and versatile in its detection of uropathogens without the need of a professional to interpret, while causing minimal to no harm to human epithelial cells. Ultimately, the goal of this research was to conclude whether PDA was toxic to eukaryotic cells that are closely related to human epithelial cells. In this poster presentation, we analyzed this potential toxicity with growth, viability, and mutagenesis assays.