15AGRITECHCAT4: BirdEase: An integrated diagnostic system for bacterial detection in poultry farms

食源性疾病被强调为食品和饮料行业的首要任务，每年造成15亿英镑的全球经济损失（FSA，2013）。近70%的食源性疾病来自弯曲杆菌、沙门氏菌和大肠杆菌，它们是食品供应链健康和安全的主要威胁（FSA，2014）。与GreenGage合作（可持续农业工程师），Cramasie（产品设计师），2姐妹篇（家禽生产和供应链），CASI Everysite（质量保证认证专家）和Campden BRI（行业研究人员，游说者和告密者），这个项目将开发一种创新的综合快速传感系统，用于细菌性疾病病原体（BirdEase）用于集约化家禽生产系统（IPPS），允许预防性疾病风险评估，为管理决策提供信息，从而减少初级生产者的经济损失，改善供应链中禽肉的健康和安全，并将消费者健康风险降至最低。这是对提高畜牧业生产力的可持续性挑战的回应，同时最大限度地减少疾病风险，从而限制人类健康问题。BirdEase传感系统将分析从从IPPS用户鞋类引入连续水流系统的垫料样品中提取的细菌病原体，通过结合完全与IPPS环境控制兼容的无堵塞细菌收集和浓缩系统。细菌收集将通过连接到循环水浴的声学回路浓缩器进行，其使用多次通过倾斜角度驻波分离场。在更下游的位置，配合共振轮廓有效地捕获了一束细菌颗粒，这些细菌颗粒附着在声光传感设备上进行成像和识别，以期产生一个真正集成的“样品到结果”诊断系统，用于实时病原体监测。第一个专有传感组件在制造的微米阵列内激发声波，探测细菌病原体的声阻抗。第二光学感测组件通过标准CCD阵列提供关于细胞特征的进一步信息，以促进可靠的病原体识别。根据家禽生产商所需的检测性能，可以有不同等级的传感特异性，与声束和光束照射细胞的平均时间成比例。该系统将从a）声振动的大小和频率以及B）衰减和光折射的水平产生无线遥测信号，穿过感测模块的表面，这又将标记传感器表面处的病原物种的特征。结合现场的其他传感器，该数据（通过GSM传播）可以以非常高的概率指示病原体来源。由于病原细胞和光声传感器之间的有效耦合，该系统将提供接近实时的反馈，其精确度比目前可用的系统高上级水平。为了支持可持续性，可以通过改变声学元件的尺寸、邻接材料的特定类型以及类似地通过优化光学芯片来补充声学数据，不仅在农业中具有广泛的适用性，而且还可用于其他诊断应用（例如医疗保健和生物防御）。

Foodborne disease is highlighted as a top priority for the food and beverage industry, responsible for £1.5Bn pa global economic losses (FSA, 2013). Nearly 70% of foodborne disease arises from Campylobacter, Salmonella and E.coli, which are major threats to the health and safety of the food supply chain (FSA, 2014). In collaboration with GreenGage (sustainable agricultural engineers), Cramasie (product designers), 2-sisters (poultry production and supply chain), CASI Everysite (quality assurance certification experts) and Campden BRI (industry researchers, lobbyists and informers), this project will develop an innovative integrated rapid sensing system for bacterial disease pathogens (BirdEase) for use within intensive poultry production systems (IPPS), allowing preventative disease risk assessment to inform management decisions, thereby reducing economic losses for primary producers, improving health and safety of poultry meat within the supply chain and minimising consumer health risk. This responds to the sustainability challenge of increasing livestock sector productivity, whilst minimising disease risk, thereby limiting human health issues. BirdEase sensing system will analyse bacterial pathogens extracted from litter samples introduced into a continuous water flow system from IPPS user footwear, by incorporating a non-clogging bacterial collection and concentration system entirely compatible with IPPS environmental control. Bacterial collection will be performed by an acoustic loop concentrator linked to a circulating water bath, which uses multiple passes through a slanted angle standing wave separation field. Further downstream, mating resonance profiles effectively trap a beam of bacterial particles that posit on acousto-optic sensing devices for imaging and identification, with a view to producing a truly integrated 'sample-to-result' diagnostic system for real-time pathogen monitoring. The first proprietary sensing component excites acoustic waves within a fabricated micrometer array, which probes the acoustic impedance of bacterial pathogens. The second optical sensing component provides further information on cellular characteristics via a standard CCD array to facilitate reliable pathogen identification. Depending on the detection performance required by poultry producers, different gradations of sensing specificity are possible, proportional to the average time of cell irradiation with acoustic and optical beams. The system will generate a wireless telemetry signal from a) the size and frequency of acoustic vibrations and b) the level of attenuation and light refraction, across the surface of the sensing module, which in turn will flag the signature of pathogenic species at the sensor surface. Combined with other sensors in the field, this data (disseminated via GSM) can indicate pathogen sources to a very high probability. Due to efficient coupling between pathogenic cells and opto-acoustic sensors, the system will provide near real-time feedback to a superior level of accuracy than currently available systems.To support sustainability, the underpinning acoustic-optic sensing platform can be adapted by changing the size of the acoustic elements, the specific type of adjoining materials, and similarly by optimising the optical chip to complement the acoustic data, with wide applicability not only within agriculture, but for other diagnostic applications (e.g. healthcare and biodefence).