I-Corps: Coliphage Biosensor

环保署和州法规要求数百个公共海滩的官员每周至少检测一次水，以检测污水中可能使人生病的有机物。 检测与污水有关的病毒，如大肠杆菌噬菌体，需要将水样送到场外实验室。 在实验室里，样本被铺在覆盖着宿主细菌光滑草坪的培养皿上。 在大约24小时内，病毒会在细菌菌苔中形成可见的透明区域，称为斑块。 对噬菌斑进行计数，并将结果发回。 整个过程需要2 - 3天，费用为20 - 50美元。 这个I-Corps团队设计了一个检测试剂盒，用于检测受污染的娱乐用水中的粪便病毒。 研究小组通过基因工程改造了一种E.大肠杆菌细菌，因此当存在特定类型的病毒时，细菌产生红色。 所形成的红色的强度与受污染的水中存在的噬菌体的量有关。 该测试可以在不到4小时内运行，与当前的病毒检测方法相比具有相当大的竞争优势。 它将易于使用和阅读，检测大肠杆菌噬菌体与一个简单的颜色变化。 这将有助于印第安纳州卫生部（ISDH）和环境管理部（IDEM）的官员早上在海滩测试水，并在人们暴露于受污染的水环境之前发布当天的污染状况或关闭海滩。 该项目提供了一种快速和廉价的方法来检测有害的大肠杆菌噬菌体病毒污染的娱乐沃茨。 这个小组的主要目标和这个I-Corps小组项目的范围是：（1）开发一个原型工具包，并将其性能与黄金标准方法进行比较。 实验室空间将在南本德的创新园租用。 IDEM的各个现场代表已经提出提供水样并分享他们的"黄金标准"实验室结果，这将有助于该团队验证该套件在真实的样品上的性能。 (2)评估哪个市场--监管、教育、娱乐船民--将是该工具包商业化的最佳起点。 该小组打算在I-Corps计划期间进行几次访谈。 与该套件的潜在购买者进行访谈和动手演示将是该团队评估该套件的可用性及其最强大的初始市场的主要方法。

EPA and state regulations require that officials at hundreds of public beaches test water at least once every week to detect organisms found in sewage that can make people sick. Detection of viruses associated with sewage, such as coliphage, requires sending a water sample to an off-site laboratory. In the lab, the samples are spread onto petri dishes covered with a smooth lawn of host bacteria. In about 24 hours, the virus causes visible clear areas called plaques to form in the lawn of bacteria. The plaques are counted and results are sent back. The process takes 2-3 days and costs $20-50. This I-Corps team has designed a test kit for detecting fecal matter viruses in contaminated recreational water. The team genetically engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria so that when particular types of virus are present, the bacteria produce a red color. The intensity of the red color that develops is related to the amount of bacteriophage present in the contaminated water. The test can be run in less than 4 hours, offering a considerable competitive advantage over current virus detection methods. It will be easy to use and to read, detecting the coliphage with a simple color change. This would help officials at the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) and the Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to test the water at a beach in the morning, and post the same day contamination status or close the beach before people are exposed to contaminated water conditions. This project offers a swift and inexpensive way to detect harmful coliphage virus contamination in recreational waters. This team's main goals and the scope of this I-Corps team project are to: (1) Develop a prototype kit and compare its performance with gold standard methods. Lab space will be rented at Innovation Park in South Bend. Various field representatives at IDEM have offered to provide water samples and share their "gold standard" lab results, which will help the team validate the kit's performance on real samples. (2) Evaluate which market--regulatory, educational, recreational boaters - would be the best starting point for commercialization of the kit. This team intend to conduct several interviews during the I-Corps program. Interviews and hands-on demos with prospective purchasers of the kit would be the team's main method to evaluate the usability of the kit and its strongest initial market.