The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grants. These SBIR/STTR grants help small businesses develop innovative applications to translate and communicate environmental health research to improve public health.

QBI was awarded an NIEHS small business grant, which aim to foster the commercialization of innovative environmental technologies for detecting and remediating hazardous substances. These technologies have the potential of protecting health through preventing harmful exposures. As part of this program, QBI is developing a biosensor that uses synthetic microbial sensor strains that fluoresce in response to specific toxins to continuously monitor water for contamination. The platform will substantially improve upon currently available technologies for toxin detection, making monitoring more affordable, continuous, and field-deployable.