Detection of water-borne E. coli O157 using the integrating waveguide biosensor

• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2005.01.005
• Publication Date: 2005-02-17T23:09:22Z
• Authors: Peixuan Zhu; Daniel R. Shelton; Jeffrey S. Karns; Appavu Sundaram; Shuhong Li; Pete Amstutz; Cha-Mei Tang
• Keywords: Equipment Failure Analysis; Immunoassay; Systems Integration; 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Colony Count, Microbial; Biosensing Techniques; Equipment Design; Escherichia coli O157; 3. Good health

Escherichia coli O157:H7, the most common serotype of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), is responsible for numerous food-borne and water-borne infections worldwide. An integrating waveguide biosensor is described for the detection of water-borne E. coli O157, based on a fluorescent sandwich immunoassay performed inside a glass capillary waveguide. The genomic DNA of captured E. coli O157 cells was extracted and quantitative real-time PCR subsequently performed to assess biosensor-capture efficiency. In vitro microbial growth in capillary waveguide is also documented. The biosensor allows for quantitative detection of as few as 10 cells per capillary (0.075 ml volume) and can be used in conjunction with cell amplification, PCR and microarray technologies to positively identify a pathogen.