Rapid Detection of Major Food-borne Pathogens

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的食物是疾病的主要来源。美国疾病控制中心（CDC）估计，食源性疾病每年造成约7600万起疾病事件，导致325，000人住院治疗和5，000人死亡。4种病原体（E.大肠杆菌、沙门氏菌、李斯特菌和弯曲杆菌）被认为占已知病原体引起的死亡的三分之二以上。 我们的研究目标是通过应用一种新的、非常灵敏的技术，即“集成波导生物传感器”，实现对食品中常见的致病菌和毒素的快速、灵敏和简单的检测。这项技术最近由海军研究实验室（NRL）开发，并授权Creatv MicroTech在水和食品安全测试领域应用。NRL对两种分子的初步实验结果表明，集成波导生物传感器比上一代基于光纤和平面阵列的生物传感器灵敏100倍。我们预计在检测食物中病原体的灵敏度方面也会有类似的提高，这种检测可以在不到30分钟的时间内完成。由此产生的装置将非常适合于预防食源性疾病。 第一阶段的初步范围将集中在E。大肠杆菌O 157：H7和沙门氏菌。将建造一个结合生物传感器技术的测试仪器，开发和验证特定病原体的分析方法，并对食物样本进行测试。在第二阶段，范围将扩大到包括病原体单核细胞增生李斯特菌和空肠弯曲菌以及家禽和新鲜农产品的食品类别。该仪器将重新设计，使其更加紧凑和便携，并将开发用于实验室以外环境的测定方法。测试将在这些食品的生产、运输和/或制备地点进行。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our food is a major source of illness. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that food-borne diseases cause approximately 76 million incidents of illness, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths annually in the U.S. Known pathogens were implicated in 14 million of these incidents, 60,000 associated hospitalizations, and 1,800 deaths. Four pathogens alone (E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, and Campylobacter) are believed to account for over two-thirds of deaths caused by known pathogens. The goal of our research is to achieve rapid, sensitive, and simple detection of pathogenic bacteria and toxins commonly found in foods by applying a new, very sensitive technology known as the "Integrating Waveguide Biosensor". This technology was recently developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and is being licensed to Creatv MicroTech for application in the fields of water and food safety testing. NRL's initial experimental results for two molecules showed the Integrating Waveguide Biosensor to be 100 times more sensitive than the previous generation of biosensors based on optical fibers and planar arrays. We expect to achieve a similar improvement in sensitivity for detection of pathogens in food in a test that can be completed in less than 30 minutes. The resulting device will be ideally suited to the prevention of food-borne diseases. The initial scope in Phase I will focus on E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella bacteria in ground beef and apple juice. A test instrument will be constructed incorporating the biosensor technology, assays will be developed and verified for the specified pathogens, and tests performed on food samples. In Phase II the scope will be expanded to include the pathogens Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter jejuni and the food groups poultry and fresh produce. The instrument will be redesigned to be more compact and portable, and assays developed for use outside a laboratory setting. Tests will be performed on location where these foods are produced, transported and/or prepared.