Market assessment for laser-based pathogen detection technology

这项新技术基于激光诱导击穿光谱（LIBS），这是一种利用短脉冲激光根据细菌病原体独特的原子组成来识别细菌病原体的技术。在基于libs的鉴定过程中，来自液体标本的细菌被强烈的纳秒激光脉冲轰击，这些激光脉冲将细菌细胞分解成它们的基本成分。病原体的元素光谱指纹作为一种独特的“条形码”标识符，可以根据预先编译的计算模型或病原体库提供即时分类。根据其光谱对生物体进行分类是使用多元分析（统称为“化学计量学”）进行数学计算的。我们的实验结果表明，这种光谱对细菌物种来说是独一无二的，甚至对生物体的菌株来说也是独一无二的。该技术可在几分钟内对病原体进行鉴定，目前的灵敏度和特异性均超过95%。

This novel technology is based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), a technique that uses a short pulse of laser light to identify bacterial pathogens based on their unique atomic composition. During the LIBS-based identification process, bacteria from fluid specimens are bombarded with intense nanosecond laser pulses that break down bacterial cells into their elemental components. The pathogen's elemental spectral fingerprint acts as a unique "bar-code" identifier which can provide an immediate classification against a pre-compiled computational model or library of pathogens. Classification of the organism based on its spectrum is mathematically calculated using multivariate analyses, known collectively as "chemometrics". Our experimental results have revealed that this spectrum is unique to the bacterial species, and even unique to the strain of the organism. The proposed technology provides pathogen identification within minutes and achieves sensitivity and specificity levels which currently exceed 95%. The detection of pathogens is of critical importance for upholding health and safety standards across multiple health-related and scientific fields, penetrating aspects of the food industry, water and environment quality control, clinical diagnostics and military-biodefense. According to a market analysis published by Markets and Markets, the North American food safety testing market is forecasted to reach $5,460 million by 2018. In 2013, North America was at the forefront of the food safety testing market. With respect to the bio-detection/defense market, Homeland Security Research Corp. projects the market value to reach $22.8 billion between 2012 and 2016. There is a clear need for pathogen detection technologies that satisfy the currently unmet needs of rapid result time, ease of use, portability and a comprehensive pathogen menu. The proposed technology has the potential to address these needs by providing easy to use, ultra-rapid (within 10 minutes) and accurate pathogen detection that can be tailored for applications requiring high-throughput and portability.