E. coli Hand-Held Sensor

Reported November 2006

PHILADELPHIA (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- From bagged spinach to undercooked meat, ever worry if your food is contaminated with disease-causing bacteria?

"Definitely with meat," says Drexel University student Jenna Tulski. "I have had a couple of people in my family who've had bad meat."

Two people died and hundreds became sick from contaminated spinach. Now a new sensor will make it easier to detect harmful E. coli and other bacteria in food.

The sensor developed by chemical engineers easily detects E. coli and other food pathogens in only 10 minutes. Current methods take up to 24 hours.

"The ability to measure disease-causing agents and agents that cause ill health, in a very short period of time, will save lives," Raj Mutharasan, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, tells Ivanhoe.

The sensor uses a sliver of glass one-millimeter wide and two-millimeters long that is coated with antibodies. Then, electricity vibrates it. When bacteria, like E. coli in hamburger, touch the glass, they cause changes in the vibrations. A computer registers the contamination.

Richard Hamilton, M.D., chairman of emergency medicine at the Drexel University College of Medicine, says, "Over 70 million get affected by food poisoning every year. Three hundred-thousand or so end up coming to the hospital, and a few thousand end up dying from it."

No doubt this sensor will help save lives -- not just by detecting food poisoning, but also by detecting air-borne anthrax and other pathogens, that's why the department of homeland security is interested in it.

The company Leversense is currently developing a hand-held version of the sensor. Soon the food from your local grocery store could be tested by this sensor. Engineers expect the hand-held version of the bacteria sensor will be available within a year.

The American Society for Microbiology contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Raj Mutharasan, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 895-2236
mutharasan@drexel.edu

Leversense
http://www.leversense.com

American Society for Microbiology
Washington, D.C. 20036-2904
(202) 737-3600
http://www.asm.org

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