SBIR Phase I: A simple, rapid field culture test to quantify Vibrio cholerae in drinking water

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是开发一种新的水质测试方法，检测和测量饮用水样本中的霍乱弧菌。该测试简单易用，可现场部署，不需要实验室、电力或复杂、昂贵的测试设备和方法。这项技术在大约24小时内就能产生快速检测结果。霍乱是一种通过水传播的疾病，人们在饮用被粪便细菌霍乱弧菌污染的水时会感染霍乱。这种疾病是一种国际公共卫生负担，在饮用水不安全和卫生条件差的国家普遍存在。水质检测是监测饮用水供应和霍乱弧菌来源的工具，有助于预防霍乱暴发，追踪霍乱暴发的源头，并评估水卫生的必要性和有效性。这项环境技术将有助于影响国内和国际环境检测、水、环境卫生和个人卫生以及公众健康。这项SBIR第一期项目将开发用于检测饮用水中霍乱弧菌的新型生长介质。目前可用的培养基不区分霍乱弧菌和其他弧菌物种。技术挑战是开发一种现场可部署、直接、定量、单步、基于文化的测试方法。该项目将为两种测试方法开发新的生长介质，这两种测试方法产生不同类型的测试结果：最可能数量量化和菌落形成单位量化。技术障碍包括：改进介质的组成，优化两种测试方法的介质应用，用具有挑战性的测试水验证两种方法，评估介质的稳定性和保质期，以及对照标准的竞争技术对介质进行评估。成功的媒体将满足灵敏度、特异度、阳性预测值和阴性预测值的所有要求。成功的媒体还将有一到两年的保质期。这项测试对任何人来说都很容易在现场使用，不需要实验室或电力。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop a new water quality test that detects and measures Vibrio cholerae bacteria in drinking water samples. The test is an easy-to-use, field-deployable, and selective without requiring a lab, electricity or complex, expensive testing equipment and methods. The technology generates rapid test results in about 24 hours. Cholera is a waterborne disease that people contract when they drink water contaminated by the fecal bacteria Vibrio cholerae. The disease is an international public health burden prevalent in countries with unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation. The water quality test is a surveillance tool that monitors drinking water supplies and sources for Vibrio cholerae, helps prevent cholera outbreaks before they occur, track sources of cholera outbreaks, and evaluates the necessity and effectiveness of water sanitation. This environmental technology will help impact domestic and international environmental testing, water, sanitation and hygiene, and public health. This SBIR Phase 1 project will develop novel growth media for the detection of Vibrio cholerae in drinking water. Currently available media do not differentiate between Vibrio cholerae and other Vibrio species. The technical challenge is to develop a field-deployable, direct, quantitative, single-step, culture-based testing method. The project will develop new growth media for two testing methods that generate different types of test results: Most Probable Number quantification and Colony Forming Unit quantification. Technical hurdles include: refining the composition of the media, optimizing the application of the media for both testing methods, validating both methods with challenging test waters, evaluating media stability and shelf life, and evaluating the media against standard, competing technologies. Successful media will meet all requirements for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. Successful media also will have a one to two-year shelf life. The test will be easy for anyone to use in the field without needing a lab or electricity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.