Detection of pathogenic bacteria through antimicrobial peptide-based canetilever bio-MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) sensor

这项拟议研究的目标是开发一个基于微流控和生物传感器的平台，用于精确和高灵敏地检测食品样品中的致病菌。食物被致病细菌污染会导致人类患上严重疾病，导致住院和死亡。例如，即食肉类中的李斯特氏菌、生牛肉中的大肠杆菌和鸡肉中的沙门氏菌已导致加拿大和其他国家的几次疫情。及早发现并采取措施防止食品中病原体的传播，不仅有助于减少此类事件造成的经济损失，而且对公众健康也大有裨益。目前检测食品中病原体的现有技术能力有限，因为它们需要很长的处理时间和熟练的用户。因此，一个主要的技术挑战是开发新的快速和简单使用的检测设备。

The goal of the proposed research is to develop a microfluidics and biosensor-based platform for precise and highly sensitive detection of pathogenic bacteria in food samples. Contamination of food with pathogenic bacteria leads to serious illness in humans resulting in hospitalization and deaths. For instance, Listeria in ready-to-eat meats, E. coli in raw ground beef, and Salmonella in chicken have lead to several outbreaks in Canada and other countries. Early detection and measures to prevent the spread of pathogens in food products would not only help reduce economic losses from such incidences but also tremendously benefit public health. Currently available techniques for detecting pathogens in food have limited capability as they require long processing time and skilled users. Therefore a major technology challenge is to develop new detection devices which are fast and simple to use.