New Biosensor could speed pathogen detection in foods

The whole process takes about four hours, and it’s able to detect the 0157.H7 strain from a cocktail of E. coli and heterotrophic bacteria

Scientist from Kansas State University (KSU) and a Canadian company called Early Warning, Inc are developing a new biosensor that will make easier the detection of pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria in food and water supplies.

Dr Jun Li developed the idea of creating a small chip that would capture and detect pathogens while he was working at NASA, and now, an associate professor in KSU, Dr. Li has been working to create biosensors based on carbon nanofibers, which form an array of electrodes even smaller than viruses. When such microbial particles are captured at the electrode surface, they generate an identifiable electrical signal.

Development efforts currently focus on the detection of E. coli in water, using a processing system that concentrates a large sample to a few milliliters. “Reducing the sample, extracting the targets from the background material, using microfluidics to extract RNA, and then feeding that sample to our sensors, that whole process takes about four hours, and it’s able to detect the 0157.H7 strain from a cocktail of E. coli and heterotrophic bacteria,” said Neil Gordon, who works with Dr Li “We believe that we can detect this and other pathogens such as Salmonella and Listeria down to very low concentrations, approximately one to 100 cells per sample, in about four hours. We hope to have a working prototype by the end of the year.”

The tap water process should easily translate to foodborne pathogen detection,“If the target medium is any liquefied solid, and we are able to extract our target organisms from background material that could interfere with detection, then it should be successful”

Fuente:
http://www.foodquality.com/details/article/1055555/New_Biosensor_Could_Speed_Pathogen_Detection.html

Aporte: Andrea Cuellar