The morphology and chemical fingerprint unique to a bacterium were imprinted into silica sol-gel polymers, resulting in the creation of a biosensor capable of selective and sensitive capture and identification of a target pathogen. Pathogen-imprinted polymers were created using templates of E. coli cells adhered on a hydrophobic plastic surface. A solution of methyltrimethoxysilane and polyethylene glycol in dilute hydrochloric acid was deposited on an E. coli template and polymerization was allowed to take place at room temperature overnight. The template was removed from the polymer, leaving behind a replica of the bacterial shape and its chemistry on the polymer surface. Scanning electron microscopy revealed bacterial imprints on the polymer identical to the organization of the bacterial cells on the template. E. coli-imprinted sol-gel polymers were selective for the capture of the target bacteria, E. coli, over non-target bacteria, Salmonella typhimurium. The concentration of bacteria in suspensions, the capture temperature, and the concentration of bacteria on templates were studied to optimize the fabrication of E. coli-imprinted polymers with high selectivity and sensitivity and rapid capture of the target bacterium.

Selective and sensitive capture of pathogens on imprinted Sol-gel polymers

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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