Research

Dr. Govind Rao walking down a lab hallway carrying a portable biomanufacturing unit in a suitcase

CAST turns sensing science into affordable technology. We work in four areas: medicines made on demand, gentler patient care, real-time bioprocess monitoring and environmental protection, and we carry our best ideas from the lab bench to the market.

How we work Research areas Technologies Work with us

30+

Issued U.S. patents

4

Industry licensing partners

220+

Peer-reviewed publications

35+

Years of sensor innovation

HOW WE WORK

Three steps from idea to impact

Every CAST project follows the same three steps: a bold idea, a working device and a price people can afford.

STEP 1

Think outside the box

Disruptive innovation

We start from a real need and look for answers others miss, often borrowing from how nature already solves the problem.

STEP 2

Put it in a box

Make it work

We turn the idea into a working device, testing and refining it in our own shop until it performs reliably.

STEP 3

Make the box affordable

Low-cost solutions

We design for the lowest cost from day one, so the final product reaches the people and places that need it most.

THE FULL PATH

From a real need to the market

Find the need

A gap that matters to society.

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Look to nature

Borrow how living systems solve it.

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Brainstorm

Put every approach on the table.

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Filter for cost

Keep the cheapest path that works.

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Test

Prove the concept at the bench.

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Prototype

Build working devices in our shop.

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Test again

Validate with real-world partners.

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Commercialize

License or spin off to market.

Research Areas

Four connected programs, each aimed at a problem where low-cost sensing can change the outcome.

Medicines on demand

We build compact, automated systems that make protein medicines in hours, close to where patients need them. Cell-free protein synthesis and in-line purification replace a large factory with a device the size of a suitcase. The result is affordable biologics for remote clinics, disaster zones and personalized care.

Care for every patient

We design gentle, low-cost medical devices that work outside the hospital as well as inside it. Our sensors read blood gases and other markers through the skin, so patients avoid needles and get earlier warnings. Every design targets settings where cost and simplicity decide who gets care.

Better bioprocess monitoring

We make biomanufacturing visible in real time. Optical sensors read oxygen, pH, carbon dioxide and glucose through the vessel wall, and breathable culture vessels improve the conditions they measure. Better data and control mean higher yields and lower-cost biologics.

Protecting our planet

We build affordable sensors for water, air and surfaces that can be used anywhere. The work ranges from plastic-free sensors made of wood to rapid tests for bacteria and airborne viruses. The goal is environmental testing every community can afford.

Technologies

Everything CAST has built or is building, from products on the market to early-stage research. Each card shows its research area.

On the market (4)

Licensed to industry or carried forward by CAST spin-off companies.

SPIN-OFF · AERO-YIELD

Breathable Shake Flask

A gas-permeable flask wall that raises biomass and protein yield.

Better bioprocess monitoring

SPIN-OFF · EQUALA THERAPEUTICS

Bio-MOD

A suitcase-sized system that makes GMP-grade protein medicines in hours.

Medicines on demand

LICENSED

Optical Sensor Patches

Postage-stamp sensors that read oxygen, pH and CO₂ through the vessel wall.

Better bioprocess monitoring

LICENSED

Binding-Protein Glucose Sensing

Engineered proteins that measure glucose through the skin, without a needle.

Care for every patient

Proven in the field (4)

Completed studies with clinical, hospital and field results.

CLINICAL TRIAL

$200 Infant Incubator

Matched a standard incubator for preterm babies in a randomized trial.

Care for every patient

HOSPITAL STUDY

Airborne Virus Capture

A portable dehumidifier that collected SARS-CoV-2 from hospital-ward air.

Protecting our planet

FIELD-TESTED

Wood Nitrate Sensors

Balsa-wood sensors for nitrate, tested in Baltimore streams.

Protecting our planet

VALIDATED

Bioburden Detection

A microfluidic cassette and portable fluorometer that find bacteria in minutes.

Protecting our planet

In development (8)

Active projects open to collaboration.

Contact us to collaborate →

Breathable T-Flasks

Gas-permeable T-flasks with built-in, non-contact sensors.

Better bioprocess monitoring

Noninvasive Flow Cell

Measures dissolved oxygen, pH and CO₂ without touching the culture.

Better bioprocess monitoring

Transdermal CO₂ Alarm

A wearable prototype that detects opioid overdose and can trigger naloxone.

Care for every patient

Cell-Free Insulin

Insulin made in hours with cell-free protein synthesis.

Medicines on demand

Chromatography Column Design

Computational design of microfluidic chromatography columns.

Medicines on demand

Cell/Gene Therapy Sensors

Built-in sensing for cell and gene therapy culture flasks, with no sampling.

Better bioprocess monitoring

Multi-Channel Biochemistry Analyzer

Measures several organic substrates in culture samples at once.

Better bioprocess monitoring

Chromatography Virus Detection

A low-cost system for broad-spectrum detection of viruses.

Care for every patient

Early-stage research (6)

New sensing platforms and modeling tools that feed future technologies.

Smartphone SPCE

Plasmon-enhanced fluorescence read with a phone camera.

Protecting our planet

Natural-Receptor Nanosensors

Carbon nanomaterial sensors built on natural receptors.

Protecting our planet

Sweat Sensor Arrays

Inkjet-printed transistors that detect cortisol and neuropeptide Y in sweat.

Care for every patient

Carbon Thin-Film Electrodes

Free-standing carbon nanotube and graphene electrodes for electrochemical sensing.

Care for every patient

Membrane Bioreactors

Membrane-based reactors for recombinant protein synthesis.

Medicines on demand

Protein Interaction Models

Mechanistic models of protein–protein and protein–ligand binding.

Medicines on demand

Past Projects

Completed programs that laid the groundwork for today’s research. Click a project to read more.

High Throughput Bioprocessing

This project aimed to connect bioprocessing from early discovery all the way to production-scale manufacturing. Low-cost, noninvasive sensors for oxygen and pH turned almost any transparent vessel into an instrumented bioreactor. The approach targeted rapid vaccine production against bioterror threats and more efficient manufacturing of diagnostics.

Miniaturized Oxygen Sensors for Tissue Engineering

Oxygen levels inside biomaterial scaffolds shape how cells grow and behave. This project developed microscale sensors to track those oxygen changes over space and time during 3D cell culture. The goal was tighter control of cell behavior in tissue replacement therapies.

Multi-Photon Photoacoustic Probe for Tumor Margining

Surgeons need to see where a tumor ends and healthy tissue begins. This project built a fiber optic probe that tells the two apart below the surface in milliseconds, using multi-photon excitation and ultrasonic detection of light absorbed by the tissue’s own molecules. The technique showed high-resolution margining of astrocytomas from healthy brain tissue. A miniature probe for surgical guidance was developed with Maryland TEDCO funding.

Near Real-Time Evaluation of Chemotherapy

This project set out to show within hours whether a cancer treatment is working. Molecularly imprinted polymers with embedded gold or silver nanoparticles were designed to detect cell-death markers released into interstitial fluid. The plan paired the sensor with a fluid sampler and a small spectrometer in a wearable device. Partners included the UM Greenbaum Cancer Center and Guided Therapeutics (formerly SpectRx).

Multiplexed Pathogen Detection Array

This USDA-funded project developed a sensor array to detect and quantify up to 50 pathogen species in complex samples such as food and water. It used a proprietary surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform with receptor-coated collector particles and optical amplification. Detection was designed to take under five minutes, even at trace pathogen levels.

Intracellular Nanosensors for Cell Signaling

This project developed nanoscale sensors that work inside living cells, tracking the expression and modification of up to 50 proteins in real time with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Applications included studying how cell pathways respond to stimuli. The sensors also offered early, pre-symptomatic detection of exposure to disease or biological agents. Parts of the work were funded by DARPA.

Low-Cost Instrumentation for Biotechnology

Measuring oxygen in biotechnology used to be expensive and imprecise. This project aimed to build a simple, low-cost device that measures sample analytes without recalibration or frequent hardware upgrades. The team developed optical readouts based on absorption, fluorescence lifetime, ratiometric and polarization methods.

Low-Cost Metabolic Monitor

This project developed a single-use, disposable field device that measures glucose, glutamine and lactate, with a continuous version planned for diabetes care. Work focused on the sensor’s optical electronics and the fluidics of the sample cell, with early comparisons against commercial glucose meters. The approach was also extended to nutrient monitoring in cell culture using microdialysis. Funding came from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

Bromate Sensor for Water Treatment

Ships treat their ballast water to stop non-native organisms from spreading between ports, often with ozone. When seawater is ozonated, bromate forms as a harmful byproduct. This project developed an optical sensor material that responds selectively to bromate, to help monitor the treatment process.

Packaging Sensor for Food Spoilage

This project developed the “Freshdicator,” a prototype sensor that shows when packaged seafood is spoiling. The thin wafer sits against the seafood inside the wrapping. Amines such as histamine, released as fish spoils, trigger a dye reaction that produces a visible color change.

Rapid Screening Device for Explosives

This project developed a device for fast screening of explosives such as TNT, NG and RDX, along with their byproducts and propellants, in groundwater and other environmental samples. Membrane dialysis first separates the explosive compounds from interfering ions. UV light then releases nitrite from those compounds, and the nitrite is measured electrochemically.

Fieldable SERS for Trace Chemical Agents

This program aimed to detect and identify trace chemicals in the field, including chemical warfare agents and environmental pollutants. It used a proprietary multi-layer SERS substrate that keeps its signal enhancement for months. SERS offers the specificity and multi-chemical detection that field work needs. The Army Research Laboratory partly supported the study of how the platform works.

Dynamic Chemical Imaging on the Nanoscale

This program developed a fiber optic probe for chemical imaging with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The probe was designed for spatial resolution below 200 nanometers and response times under a second. That combination makes it possible to follow molecular changes as they happen, in uses ranging from materials analysis to monitoring cells and tissue.

Stand-Off Detection of Chemical Vapors

This project aimed to detect harmful vapors from a safe distance. Its sensor platforms used high-power pulsed lasers and hybrid detection to read the light scattered back from trace vapors or their fragments. The approach could identify many different chemical species.

Temperature-Sensitive Fluorescent Polymers

This project developed polymer materials that sense temperature. One is a coating whose fluorescence tracks surface temperature in real time and reverses as the surface cools. The other is a fluorescent time-temperature indicator that changes permanently after heat exposure, for use in smart packaging.

Alcohol Sensor

This project developed an alcohol sensor tough enough to survive steam sterilization. Target uses included controlling bioprocesses that produce ethanol, monitoring direct-conversion fuel cells and monitoring flex-fuel vehicles. A sensor that withstands sterilization can stay built into equipment that is steam-cleaned between uses.

Wireless Sensor Networks for Environmental Monitoring

This project built a durable hardware platform for wireless sensor nodes that record common environmental readings. A network of these nodes was designed to monitor water quality in rivers and streams remotely. Remote nodes reduce the need for repeated site visits to collect samples.

Enterotoxin Sensor

This project, a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aimed to build a low-cost device that detects enterotoxins in food. It improved on standard fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) by using a long-lifetime donor. The longer-lived signal simplifies the instrument design and helps keep its cost low.

Work With Us

License a technology

Several CAST technologies are available for licensing or co-development. See our patent portfolio or reach out to discuss a fit.

View patents

Collaborate or join the lab

We work with industry, clinicians and other research groups, and welcome students interested in sensors and biomanufacturing.

Contact us

Search UMBC

30+

4

220+

35+

Three steps from idea to impact

Think outside the box

Put it in a box

Make the box affordable

From a real need to the market

Research Areas

Medicines on demand

Care for every patient

Better bioprocess monitoring

Protecting our planet

Technologies

On the market (4)

Proven in the field (4)

In development (8)

Breathable T-Flasks

Chromatography Column Design

Cell/Gene Therapy Sensors

Early-stage research (6)

Natural-Receptor Nanosensors

Sweat Sensor Arrays

Carbon Thin-Film Electrodes

Protein Interaction Models

Past Projects

Work With Us

License a technology

Collaborate or join the lab

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