With no effective treatment against asthma and its symptoms, each day ten Americans die from it, and many others (18.4 million adults) experience detrimental effects on their health status and quality of life. Asthma is the most prevalent, pediatric chronic condition in the United States, affecting 6.2 million children (8.4%). No clear understanding about asthma etiology has yet been established.

Current research is focusing on the cumulative and combined exposure to environmental asthma triggers such as Traffic-Related Air Pollution (TRAP), including Particulate Matter (PM), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), and chemical vapors (CO, NO2, SO2 and O3). At present, the only effective approach to curb asthma development and exacerbation is avoiding exposure to asthma triggers, but this is strongly limited by the lack of reliable, personal-scale dosimeters able to monitor and assess cumulative and combined exposure in real-time. 

Calyx Inc. has developed a versatile virus-based, colorimetric sensor platform technology for environmental sensing and daily health monitoring. The novel, in-house developed technology uses a self-assembling bacteriophage sensor array (M13 bacteriophage) that can be genetically engineered to bind to specific gas molecules and change its color pattern based on type of gas and concentration.