SBIR Phase I: Environmental water on site microbial contaminant sensor

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，所开发的产品将使用支持互联网的智能设备实现本地和远程环境水微生物检测。检测是在30分钟内现场监测接近采样时间的水，而目前的方法需要将样本送到实验室进行24小时的测试。这项创新涉及一种方法，即从大量的水中捕获基因，并将其浓缩到一种独特的结合材料上，在那里对它们进行计数。清洁水对农业灌溉、牲畜、食品加工和娱乐等主要经济部门至关重要，据估计，水检测是一个12亿美元的全球市场。开发的水测试可以在全球环境中使用，并通过改善水质管理产生重大的社会影响，特别是在农村或发展中国家，那里估计有7.8亿人消费不安全的水。该第一阶段研究项目的技术目标是推进一种高度创新的技术方法，用于现场直接检测100毫升环境水中的大肠杆菌或肠球菌污染物，并在30分钟内得出结果。这些微生物是传统的指示性生物，可以识别水中存在可能不安全的粪便污染。该项目解决的技术障碍是在一杯水中发现低拷贝的细菌，这不仅是水测试的独有问题，而且在病原体或基因成为检测目标的任何地方都是一个广泛的问题。即将完成的研究目标将确认我们的创新战略，即从细胞中释放核酸，表征能够捕获和浓缩核酸的固相材料的基本性质，并在检测到特定基因序列的盒中产生原型流。实现对经常大量存在的低拷贝数病原体的检测(100毫升环境水、10毫升血液、食品加工洗涤水等)提出的创新方法为这一问题提供了一种潜在的解决方案，并进一步允许直接在现场进行测试，这种测试成本低，非仪器测试，易于使用手机进行结果上传。集成策略是一种新的方法，它克服了所有当前培养或当前分子方法在测试环境水方面的局限性。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is that the product developed will enable local and remote environmental water microbe detection using internet-enabled smart devices. Detection is on-site within 30 minutes to monitor water close to the time it is sampled compared to current methods that require sending the sample to lab that conducts a test that takes 24 hours. The innovation involves a method to capture and concentrate genes from large volumes of water onto a unique binding material where they are counted. Clean water is critical to major economic sectors such as farm irrigation, livestock, food processing, and recreation and water testing is estimated to be a 1.2 billion dollar global market. The water test developed could be used in global settings and have a significant societal impact through improved water quality management especially in rural or developing country settings where is estimated that 780 million people consume unsafe water. The technical objectives in this Phase I research project are to advance a highly innovative technical approach for direct in the field detection of E. coli or Enterococcus contaminants in 100 milliliters of environmental water with results available in 30 minutes. These microbes are traditional indicator organisms that identify water with fecal contamination that could be unsafe. The technical hurdle addressed in this project which is finding low copies of bacteria present in a glass of water is not unique to water testing but is also an issue broadly anywhere pathogens or genes are a targets of detection. The research objectives to be completed will confirm our innovative strategy to release nucleic acids from cells, characterize fundamental properties of solid phase materials capable of capture and concentration of nucleic acids, and produce a prototype flow through cassette where specific gene sequences are detected. Achieving detection of pathogens that frequently are present in low copy numbers in large volumes (100 milliliters of environmental water, 10 milliliters of blood, food processing wash water, etc.) is a common technical hurdle that limits assay sensitivity.The innovative approach proposed provides a potential solution to this issue and further permits testing directly on site with a low cost, non-instrumented test that is easy to perform with result upload using a cell phone. The integrated strategy is a novel approach that overcomes the limitations of all current culture or current molecular methods for testing environmental water.