Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Dottir Labs, Inc. received a $305,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) to develop a centralized Raman spectroscopy platform for real-time water quality monitoring. The project, which commenced July 1, 2026, and concludes June 30, 2027, aims to create an optical sensor system capable of instantly identifying harmful chemicals such as nitrogen and ammonia in water without introducing reagents or requiring manual sample collection and laboratory analysis. The innovative approach replaces traditional dispersive spectrometers with a network of small, low-cost detectors powered by a single centralized tunable laser source, enabling distributed sensing over long distances while maintaining sensitivity and resolution.

The platform addresses critical national water quality challenges by enabling early detection of contaminants that pose risks to public health, aquatic ecosystems, and drinking water supplies. By eliminating the sensitivity-resolution trade-off inherent in classical dispersive spectroscopy, the swept-source Raman sensing technology demonstrates potential for scalable deployment in industrial environments and water treatment facilities. This innovation supports public health protection, safeguards shared water resources, and reduces dependence on chemical-based water treatment methods. The project is being performed in Brookline, Massachusetts.