Homogeneous Plasmonic Assays for Instantaneous Microbial Detection

主要研究者：Abbas，Abdennour提案编号：1605191将研究一种快速鉴定和定量食品和环境样品中微生物含量和类型的新方法。本研究将为食品和环境样品中微生物种类和含量的快速检测提供一种新的方法。将开发快速筛查（少于2小时），以确定是否存在酵母菌、霉菌、革兰氏阴性菌、革兰氏阳性菌和其他系统发育微生物类别，无论菌株或种属如何。目前的快速方法依赖于孵育，然后进行聚合酶链反应（PCR）进行鉴定。所提出的均相等离子体遗传学-等离子体测定基于等离子体和比色机制（通过金属纳米颗粒的聚集产生颜色）的组合，以及微生物表面上特定系统发育实体的鉴定和靶向，所述特定系统发育实体对某类微生物是特异性的，并且可以被激活以与等离子体纳米颗粒相互作用。这种相互作用导致围绕微生物的纳米颗粒单层的快速形成，导致样品的颜色从红色快速变化为肉眼可见的深蓝色。因此，预计所提出的分析技术将降低分析和决策所需的成本和时间，在不到两个小时的时间内变得可行。除了该项目的应用方面，拟议的研究将探索微生物表面实体，特别是含二硫键的蛋白质，并阐明它们在分子识别反应和微生物细胞稳定性中的重要性，分布和作用。这项研究的主要直接影响是通过在食品工厂和环境场所进行快速微生物筛查，提高食品和环境诊断实验室的能力，从而及时实施预防或治疗反应。该项目建议与工业伙伴建立合作关系，这将有助于填补学术研究与造福社会的商业产品开发之间的差距。拟议的研究计划将介绍研究生，本科生和博士后进行跨学科研究，并教育他们如何通过应用不同的科学和工程领域解决问题，如纳米技术，化学，生物技术和食品工程。这项研究的结果将通过会议、同行评议的出版物、潜在的专利和新闻文章广泛传播，以告知公众。

PI: Abbas, Abdennour Proposal Number: 1605191A new approach for a rapid identification and quantification of microbial content and type in food and environmental samples will be investigated. If successful, the results could address current need in food safety and food spoilage detection.A new approach for rapid identification and quantification of the microbial content and type in food and environmental samples, will be investigated. Rapid screening (less than 2 hours) for the presence or absence of yeasts, molds, gram-negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria and other phylogenetic microbial classes regardless of the strain or species will be developed. Current rapid methods rely on incubation followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for identification. The proposed homogeneous phylogenetic-plasmonic assays are based on the combination of plasmonic and colorimetry mechanisms (generation of color by the aggregation of metal nanoparticles), and the identification and targeting of specific phylogenetic entities on the microbial surface, which are specific to a certain class of microorganisms, and can be activated to interact with plasmonic nanoparticles. Such an interaction results in a rapid formation of a nanoparticle monolayer surrounding the microorganism, leading to rapid color change of the sample from red to dark-blue, visible to the naked eye. As a result, the proposed assay technology is expected to reduce cost and time needed for analysis and decision making would become feasible in less than two hours. Beyond the applied aspects of the project, the proposed research will explore microbial surface entities, particularly disulfide bridge-containing proteins, and shed light on their importance, distribution and role in molecular recognition reactions and stability of microbial cells. The main direct impact of this research is to enhance the capabilities of food and environmental diagnostic laboratories by enabling rapid microbial screening in food plants and environmental sites, allowing timely implementation of a preventive or curative response. The project proposes to build collaboration with industrial partners, which will help fill the gap between academic research and the development of commercial products that benefit society. The proposed research program will introduce graduate, undergraduate students, and post-docs to transdisciplinary research and educate them on how to solve problems by applying different fields of science and engineering, such as nanotechnology, chemistry, biotechnology and food engineering. The results of this research will be broadly disseminated through conferences, peer-reviewed publications, potential patents and news articles to inform the general public.