Abstract
Ocean ecosystems are undergoing accelerating disruption from human impacts such as climate change. Warming ocean temperatures drive pathogenic outbreaks, increase harmful algal blooms and cause coral stress. These can have serious consequences for marine ecosystems, human health and the aquaculture industry, representing a critical One Health issue. Monitoring key marine species offers valuable insights, but current methods are resource-intensive, low-resolution and unsuitable for frequent deployment. Here we introduce a low-cost, field-deployable CRISPR biosensing platform for detecting marine organismal DNA and RNA. Harnessing the programmability of CRISPR diagnostics for environmental biosurveillance, we demonstrate versatility across three climate-linked indicators: Vibrio spp., Pseudo-nitzschia spp. and heat-stressed corals. Portable 3D-printed processor and incubator devices enable direct processing of filter-captured samples with temperature control. Field readiness is reinforced by lyophilized reagents, lateral flow readouts, dropper-based handling and a two-step multiplexed workflow, delivering results within 1 hour without laboratory instruments. Benchmarking with authentic pathogens and environmental seawater confirmed seawater tolerance and robust detection of 108 colony-forming units per filter of Vibrio pathogens, equivalent to 102 copies per microlitre for 1 litre of filtered sample. This decentralized platform reduces barriers to routine monitoring and can provide early warnings of ecosystem disturbances, while supporting One Health initiatives in the marine space.
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All data supporting the findings of this study are provided in the article and/or its Supplementary Information. Raw data and additional materials are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all the members of the Collins laboratory for helpful comments and discussion, and specifically X. Tan and A. Cubillos-Ruiz for discussions on marine sampling, organismal genes and transcripts. We are also grateful to X. Tan for assistance with genome alignment analysis. pOSIP-KO (KanR, 186) was a gift from D. Endy and K. Shearwin (Addgene plasmid # 45985; http://n2t.net/addgene:45985; RRID: Addgene_45985). This work was supported by the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University. N.K. was supported by the Wyss Technology Development Fellowship, and B.S.M. was supported by Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship 224071/Z/21/Z.
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Conceptualization: N.K., D.S.C., J.B.N., J.J.C. and P.Q.N.; methodology: N.K., D.S.C., B.S.M. and P.Q.N.; investigation and validation: N.K., D.S.C., N.M.D., B.S.M., H.M.S., S.R.L., E.P. and P.Q.N; software and formal analysis: N.K., B.S.M. and P.Q.N.; project administration: N.K., J.J.C. and P.Q.N.; data curation and visualization: N.K. and P.Q.N.; writing—original draft: N.K., J.J.C. and P.Q.N.; writing—review and editing: N.K., D.S.C., N.M.D., B.S.M., H.M.S., J.B.N., J.J.C. and P.Q.N.; supervision: J.B.N., J.J.C. and P.Q.N; funding acquisition: J.B.N., J.J.C. and P.Q.N.
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Kim, N., Collins, D.S., Donghia, N.M. et al. A field‑deployable CRISPR-based biosensing platform for monitoring marine ecosystems.
Nat Sustain 9, 51–64 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01752-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01752-0
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