The development of a microcytometer for rapid detection and identification of foodborne pathogens

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High-throughput detection and identification of foodborne pathogens are in increasing demand for rapidbacteria detections in food safety monitoring. A low-cost, robust, reliable and high-throughput bacteriadetection cytometry is especially important for food safety authorities to quickly identify and respond to eventssuch as foodborne disease outbreaks and bioterrorist attacks on our food supply chains. To this end, we proposea microfluidic-based microchip flow cytometer (i.e. microcytometer), a diagnostic device for rapid pathogenicbacteria identification and detection. The proposed microcytometry integrates all major food pathogendetecting functions, which are currently handled in off-site food safety microbiology laboratories, into alow-cost and disposable credit card-sized microcytometry chip. This microcytometer is built upon microfluidictechnologies to first react food samples with fluorescently-labeled antibodies, and subsequently detect thelabeled cells when they flow in single file through engineered microfluidic channels. While the initial reactionwill allow the fluorescently-labeled antibodies to recognize and bind to the targeted pathogenic bacteria in thefood sample with high specificity, the latter will enable automatic detection of the labeled cells using lasertechnology.