Infectious bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, emit distinct combinations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as metabolic waste. These VOC combinations may serve as disease biomarkers and can be detected using solid phase microextraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). To facilitate VOC detection by SPME/GCMS, a sampling procedure was developed using E. coli as a model bacterium and extended to the opportunistic pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus grown in a common media. Cultures were grown at 37 �C and were well aerated ensuring bacterial VOC production. SPME fibers were isolated from cultures using 0.45 �m filters and headspace VOCs collected. Results using this method were greatly improved over prior studies.

Optimizing bacterial VOC biomarker analysis using SPME-GCMS

245th National Meeting (2013)

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