Pathogen Detection

About

Description: An improved method of detecting pathogenic bacteria based on microbial iron chelators is disclosed. The technology uses selective recognition of siderophores to identify and characterize different types of bacteria. Combining these tasks enables the development of a rapid diagnostic test for use in health care laboratories or at the point-of-care. The technology can be adapted for single strains of bacteria or multiple bacterial analyses from the same microfluid sample. In practice, the device is realized in one of two formats: (1) a microfluidic multichannel affinity chromatography and detection system based on covalent attachment of bacteria to siderophores and analogs to the surface of separate channels in the microfluidic device; and (2) affinity-based pull down onto a solid substrate followed by complementary recognition by gold nanoparticles and subsequent amplification by Ag particle nucleation.