The rapid detection of low numbers of waterborne pathogens will be a significant challenge in the 21st Century.  Contamination from zoonotic sources or bioterrorism poses a serious risk to public safety in industrialized and developing nations, as these organisms are often highly virulent.  We have developed methods that couple the concentration of microbes via continuous flow centrifugation (CFC) to detection platforms utilizing bead-based oligonucleotide microarrays and low-cost lateral flow biosensors.  To challenge our platforms, we spiked 10 L of sterilized tap water with approximately 100 CFU of bacterial cells.  These samples were then processed by CFC and conventional centrifugation, followed by PCR amplification of species-specific virulence genes.  The biotinylated amplicons were then hybridized to oligonucleotide-functionalized microsphere arrays, stained with streptavidin-conjugated Cy3, and imaged by fluorescence microscopy.  Alternatively, we were able to visualize the PCR products with a colorimetric readout using red polystyrene nanospheres on nitrocellulose membrane strip sensors.

Development of microarray and strip sensor platforms to detect bacteria concentrated from water by continuous flow centrifugation

239th National Meeting (2010)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.