Microplasma-assisted manipulation of intact airborne bacteria for real-time autonomous detection

在这个项目中，我们提出了一种直接检测空气中细菌的新方法。在许多领域，需要面对炭疽等病原体感染的危险，现有技术在快速评估危险以便能够迅速作出公共安全反应方面存在重大挑战。目前的技术可能是缓慢的，昂贵的或需要训练有素的人员和专门的实验室。我们希望设计一种基于精确测量细菌的许多物理特性的检测技术，该技术将允许区分甚至相似的菌株，以便可以清楚地识别真正的病原体。这是一个困难的挑战，并且进一步地，我们的目标是在我们的原理证明中示出，将有可能设计低成本、合理便携并且可以自主工作（即，没有持续的人为干预）的检测器。成功将鼓励在关键的公共场所开发和部署这种远程监控技术，例如大型公共活动和医院。

In this project we are proposing a new method of directly detecting airborne bacteria. In many fields, the dangers of infection by pathogens, for example anthrax, need to be faced and there are major challenges with existing techniques in quickly assessing the danger so that rapid public safety responses are possible . Current techniques may be slow, expensive or need trained people and specialised laboratories. We want to devise a detection technique based on accurate measurement of a number of physical characteristics of bacteria that will allow differentiation of even similar strains so that the true pathogens can be clearly identified. This is a difficult challenge and further, we aim to show in our proof of principle, that it will be possible to design a detector that is low cost, reasonably portable and can work autonomously i.e. without continuous human intervention. Success would then encourage the development and deployment of this remote monitoring technology in critical public spaces, for example large public events and hospitals.