The development of a microcytometer for rapid detection and identification of foodborne pathogens

在食品安全监测中，对食源性病原体的高通量检测和鉴定对快速细菌检测的需求越来越大。低成本、坚固、可靠和高通量的细菌检测细胞仪对于食品安全当局快速识别和应对食源性疾病暴发和食品供应链上的生物恐怖袭击等事件尤为重要。为此，我们提出了一种基于微流控的微芯片流式细胞仪(即微细胞仪)，一种用于病原菌快速鉴定和检测的诊断装置。拟议的微细胞仪将目前由非现场食品安全微生物学实验室处理的所有主要食品病原体检测功能整合到一个低成本和一次性信用卡大小的微细胞仪芯片中。这种微细胞仪建立在微流控技术的基础上，首先将食品样本与荧光标记的抗体反应，然后当标记的细胞通过工程微流控通道进入单列时进行检测。虽然最初的反应将允许荧光标记的抗体以高特异性识别并结合食品样本中的目标致病菌，但后者将使用激光技术自动检测标记的细胞。

High-throughput detection and identification of foodborne pathogens are in increasing demand for rapid bacteria detections in food safety monitoring. A low-cost, robust, reliable and high-throughput bacteria detection cytometry is especially important for food safety authorities to quickly identify and respond to events such as foodborne disease outbreaks and bioterrorist attacks on our food supply chains. To this end, we propose a microfluidic-based microchip flow cytometer (i.e. microcytometer), a diagnostic device for rapid pathogenic bacteria identification and detection. The proposed microcytometry integrates all major food pathogen detecting functions, which are currently handled in off-site food safety microbiology laboratories, into a low-cost and disposable credit card-sized microcytometry chip. This microcytometer is built upon microfluidic technologies to first react food samples with fluorescently-labeled antibodies, and subsequently detect the labeled cells when they flow in single file through engineered microfluidic channels. While the initial reaction will allow the fluorescently-labeled antibodies to recognize and bind to the targeted pathogenic bacteria in the food sample with high specificity, the latter will enable automatic detection of the labeled cells using laser technology.