Development of endolysin-based biosensor for the detection of Lasteria bacteria contamination

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The development of a sensitive, inexpensive biosensor to detect and quantify bacteria on-site in food and drinking water samples is an important scientific challenge. Current methods for bacteria detection are slow, inefficient and inadequate for taking timely action in case of outbreaks, which can result in tremendous economic burden and pose a serious risk to human health. There is a great demand for rapid and accurate detection/monitoring of bacteria in the food industry. We are focusing on the development of a portable, real-time and low-cost detection system targeting Listeria. This novel system utilizes a bacteriophage-based product to accomplish sensitive detection/capturing of Listeria. We will employ bacterial cell wall-binding proteins (CBD) derived from Listeria-specific phages as the recognition receptor in our detection system. The high-affinity/specificity binding of Listeria to the CBD will be detected by an impedance-based sensing device. This unique combination will result in a novel tool for the rapid detection of Listeria in food samples. This technology is not limited to bacteria detection in food industry, but also has wide applications in water resources, homeland security, environment pollution and point-of-care monitoring.