Interview with Carl Kalin, President of Biosensor Solutions

Question: Carl, can you tell us about your role at Biosensor Solutions and the focus of your organization?

Answer: I am the President of Biosensor Solutions, a small but robust team focusing on assisting researchers, growers and food processors as they monitor and improve the microbiology of soil and food for sustainability, increased harvests and food security and safety. We partner with university and soil testing laboratories, and growers to measure, report and validate the impacts of practices like biofertilizer upon microbial activity in the soil for better harvests and safety from field to dinner table.

Q: Biosensor Solutions is a newer member of NextFlex. What drew you to the hybrid electronics manufacturing community and what are you hoping to accomplish through your membership?

A: We are hoping to connect with other NextFlex members who are also interested in changing the landscape for sustainable food farming.

Q: What is a key innovation that will enable widespread adoption of hybrid electronics and related technologies, and what application areas are you working in?

A: The ability to produce low-cost, technologically advanced sensors that will allow for year-round monitoring of not only crops and soil but will also have far-reaching implications in many other areas.

Q: What upcoming activities are you most excited about?

A: We are excited to submit a proposal for Project Call 9.0 and to network with like-minded individuals at upcoming workshops.

Q: In what ways do you think NextFlex and hybrid electronics can impact microelectronics manufacturing and / or your own product development?

A: Using hybrid electronics, were are able to provide in situ microbial soil health metrics as a service. Using novel techniques, we have been able to produce super low cost printed electronic organic microbial sensors and the related sensor platforms. These are used to test soil which has growing crops from germination onward in both the lab and in fields of crops. By enabling laboratory testing of growing seeds and plants with various soil amendments, microbiologists and agronomists can test the benefit of various concentrations & combinations of amendments on specific field soil samples for different crops. This can be done year-round in a lab or greenhouse versus once per year on the farmland during the 3-month growing season in most of North America. These preliminary tests will help focus on the most effective solutions for each grower, before finally being tested in the field during the growing season.