Fieldstone Bio Uses Engineered Microbes and AI to Revolutionize Environmental Sensing

In an era where data about our environment is abundant thanks to satellites and sensors, Fieldstone Bio is pioneering a novel approach by leveraging engineered microbes as living sensors. Founded in 2023 as a spinout from MIT, the company programs microbes to detect specific compounds such as nutrients in soil or explosive residues like TNT, then visually signal their presence by changing color.

The core innovation lies in making these microbial signals visible from a distance. Fieldstone Bio deploys the microbes over target areas using drones. After allowing time for sensing—ranging from hours to days—another drone equipped with a hyperspectral camera captures images of the area. Unlike standard photography, hyperspectral imaging divides light into hundreds of spectral bands, enabling detection of the microbes’ unique light reflection signatures.

Artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in analyzing this complex hyperspectral data. AI models are trained to identify the faint microbial signals amidst vast environmental information, producing detailed heat maps that reveal the precise location and concentration of target compounds. This capability offers transformative benefits for applications including agriculture, where nitrogen levels can be monitored with unprecedented resolution, and national security, by detecting landmines.

Beyond these uses, Fieldstone Bio is also developing microbial sensors to detect environmental contaminants such as arsenic. Traditional soil sampling methods provide limited resolution, but microbial sensing combined with hyperspectral imaging can achieve mapping at a one-inch scale, enabling targeted cleanup efforts. This precision reduces costs and environmental impact by focusing remediation where it is most needed.

Fieldstone Bio is mindful of regulatory and public concerns surrounding genetically modified organisms. The company is actively engaging with the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure compliance with safety standards. Looking ahead, the startup envisions building a comprehensive database that correlates microbial sensor data with environmental signals, enabling hyperspectral cameras to detect contaminants without deploying microbes, thus expanding the scope of remote sensing via drones, planes, and satellites.

Fieldstone Bio’s innovative integration of synthetic biology, drone technology, hyperspectral imaging, and AI exemplifies the future of environmental monitoring. This approach promises to deliver higher resolution data, faster insights, and more cost-effective solutions across agriculture, environmental remediation, and national security domains. As the technology matures, it could fundamentally transform how we observe and respond to the natural world.