SBIR Phase II: A Microfluidic-Based Biosensor for Food Pathogen Detection

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目将开发一种便携式、快速和特异性的基于毛细管通道的食品病原体免疫传感系统。这些测试将能够在不到1小时内检测到浓度为10 cfu/ml的各种微生物（沙门氏菌、李斯特菌、大肠杆菌），而目前的方法通常需要24至48小时才能获得初步数据，通常需要3至7天才能获得确定结果。第一阶段的结果证明了所提议的仪器在性能上实现这一重大飞跃的能力。第二阶段的目标是进一步完善仪器，使其具有食品加工行业所需的高性能、易用性和低样品成本。该项目的商业应用将在食品安全和生物防御领域。致病菌对食品的微生物污染是我们社会关注的主要问题。据估计，在美国，受污染的食品每年导致7600万人患病，32.5万人患重病住院，5000人死亡。据估计，食源性疾病每年造成的经济损失高达100亿美元。最近的事件也清楚地表明，故意引入国家食品供应的病原体的威胁可能是真实的，具有重大的经济影响。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a portable, rapid and specific capillary channel based immuno-sensing system for food pathogens. The tests will be able to detect concentrations of 10 cfu/ml of various microorganisms (Salmonella, Listeria, Escherichia Coli) in less than 1 hour in contrast to current methods that typically require 24 to 48 hours for preliminary data to become available and typically 3-7 days for definitive results. The capability of the proposed instrument to achieve this significant leap forward in performance was demonstrated by the Phase I results. The Phase II objective is to further refine the instrument with the high performance, ease of use, and low per sample cost needed by the food processing industry. The commercial application of this project will be in the areas of food safety and bio-defense. Microbial contamination of food products by pathogenic bacteria is a major concern of our society. Contaminated food is estimated to cause 76 million illnesses, 325,000 serious illnesses resulting in hospitalization, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. The economic impact of food-borne illnesses has been estimated as high as $10 billion annually. Recent events have also made it clear that the threat from pathogens intentionally introduced into the nation's food supply can be real, with significant economic implications.