I-Corps: Coliphage Biosensor

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

EPA and state regulations require that officials at hundreds of public beaches test water at least once every week to detect organisms found in sewage that can make people sick. Detection of viruses associated with sewage, such as coliphage, requires sending a water sample to an off-site laboratory. In the lab, the samples are spread onto petri dishes covered with a smooth lawn of host bacteria. In about 24 hours, the virus causes visible clear areas called plaques to form in the lawn of bacteria. The plaques are counted and results are sent back. The process takes 2-3 days and costs $20-50. This I-Corps team has designed a test kit for detecting fecal matter viruses in contaminated recreational water. The team genetically engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria so that when particular types of virus are present, the bacteria produce a red color. The intensity of the red color that develops is related to the amount of bacteriophage present in the contaminated water. The test can be run in less than 4 hours, offering a considerable competitive advantage over current virus detection methods. It will be easy to use and to read, detecting the coliphage with a simple color change. This would help officials at the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) and the Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to test the water at a beach in the morning, and post the same day contamination status or close the beach before people are exposed to contaminated water conditions. This project offers a swift and inexpensive way to detect harmful coliphage virus contamination in recreational waters. This team's main goals and the scope of this I-Corps team project are to: (1) Develop a prototype kit and compare its performance with gold standard methods. Lab space will be rented at Innovation Park in South Bend. Various field representatives at IDEM have offered to provide water samples and share their "gold standard" lab results, which will help the team validate the kit's performance on real samples. (2) Evaluate which market--regulatory, educational, recreational boaters - would be the best starting point for commercialization of the kit. This team intend to conduct several interviews during the I-Corps program. Interviews and hands-on demos with prospective purchasers of the kit would be the team's main method to evaluate the usability of the kit and its strongest initial market.