Program Year:
2018
Supervisor:
Lili He
Department:
Department of Food Science
Major:
Food Science
Project Description:
The overall objective is to develop a nanotechnology-based method to rapidly detect bacteria in water and food matrices. Currently, we have developed a method utilizes a special compound, i.e. mercaptophenylboronic acid (MBPA) to capture bacteria onto a gold-coated slide. Bacteria captured on the slide exhibited visual spots that can be seen under a smartphone with an inexpensive microscope adapter. The summer project aims to further explore the feasibility of this method to detect bacteria in water from natural resources, rinse water from fresh produce, poultry, and food processing surfaces. In addition, we will apply specific aptamers to capture selected pathogens.
