I-Corps: Fast detection of pathogens in food

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 6 Americans is sickened by foodborne illness annually, resulting in about 3,000 deaths each year. Current food safety tests require lengthy sample preparation (24-36h), and often products with short shelf life ?such as precut spinach and green leafs- are shipped before lab results. The goal of this project is to develop a technology for the separation of pathogens -such as Salmonella- from food, which will enable pathogen detection in less than 3 h. Shortening the time to detect pathogens in food from 24-36 h to less than 3 h will (i) allow producers of short-shelf-life produce to test before shipping, reduce Salmonella and E. coli outbreaks, and save in costs associated with recalls; (i) allow producers ground meat to save costs associated with refrigeration and storing during food safety tests; (ii) allow FDA and CDC officials to test in the field, and respond and control outbreaks faster. The goal of this project is to find and validate a market fit, and to further develop a technology that will allow reducing the detection of pathogenic bacteria in food from 24-36h to under 3h. The proposed technology will replace bacterial enrichment, where the sample is incubated for 24 h to increase the bacterial number so that they can be separated from the food matrix and detected. The key innovation in this project is that by creating "chemical traps" this I-Corps team will leverage bacterial motility and specificity in chemotactic bacteria to have them "self separate" from the sample. This will constitute a paradigm shift on how separation of microbes has been attempted, where bacteria are treated as "inert beads" (e.g. dielectric and magnetic separations) instead of systems that can make decisions based on their microenvironment. The team's current prototypes, though appropriate for lab settings, do not meet the requirements to be a minimum viable product that can be presented to potential customers. By the end of the project this I-Corps team will develop a new prototype using 3D printing that will allow complete sealing of the samples and that the team will be able to use for demonstration in the customers' labs. Replacing enrichment in food safety tests will significantly shorten the time to results, and it may have a profound impact in ensuring the safety of the US food supply.