Rapid results from biosensor

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists have demonstrated a new technology that accurately and rapidly detects the meat-spoiling and sometimes dangerous E. coli bacteria.

The technology uses a protein from the suspect bacteria as part of the sensing system that also includes a silicon chip and a digital camera.

“We’ve developed a very inexpensive technology that can detect an infectious agent,” said Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., an associate professor of dermatology at the Medical Center and a member of the university’s Center for Future Health “It’s clearly faster and cheaper than any competing technology. This is another step on the way to point-of-care diagnostics.”

The technology could potentially detect any biological entity, Miller said. A physician someday, for example, could use the technology in his or her office to confirm a streptococcal infection in a patient with a sore throat.

The Rochester research team calls the technology “arrayed imaging reflectometry.” The system utilises a silicon chip that is made so that laser light reflected off the chip is invisible unless the target bacteria – in this case Escherichia coli - are present.