Rapid Waterborne Pathogen Detection with Mobile Electronics

Abstract

Pathogen detection in water samples, without complex and time consuming procedures such as fluorescent-labeling or culture-based incubation, is essential to public safety. We propose an immunoagglutination-based protocol together with the microfluidic device to quantify pathogen levels directly from water samples. Utilizing ubiquitous complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) imagers from mobile electronics, a low-cost and one-step reaction detection protocol is developed to enable field detection for waterborne pathogens. 10 mL of pathogen-containing water samples was processed using the developed protocol including filtration enrichment, immune-reaction detection and imaging processing. The limit of detection of 10 E. coli O157:H7 cells/10 mL has been demonstrated within 10 min of turnaround time. The protocol can readily be integrated into a mobile electronics such as smartphones for rapid and reproducible field detection of waterborne pathogens.

A Rapid and Low-Cost Pathogen Detection Platform by Using a Molecular Agglutination Assay

“…The design of the microfluidic device can be referred to our previous work. 18 In brief, the microfluidic chip contains an inlet, a serpentine microchannel, a sensing window, a waste collection reservoir, and an outlet. The waste reservoir was designed to hold up to 25 μL of liquid sample.…”

“…The platform utilizes the narrow beam scanning (NBS) technique with off-the-shelf complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) imagers to collect images from molecular agglutination bioassays. 18 , 19 The agglutination assay is a simple approach to produce signals detected by various biosensors. 20 − 23 These bioassays have mostly been demonstrated by means of antibody-coated microparticles for detection of biomarkers or bacteria.…”

“…In this paper, we propose a low-cost microfluidic imaging flow cytometry platform for rapid UTI diagnostics. The platform utilizes the narrow beam scanning (NBS) technique with off-the-shelf complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) imagers to collect images from molecular agglutination bioassays. , The agglutination assay is a simple approach to produce signals detected by various biosensors. − These bioassays have mostly been demonstrated by means of antibody-coated microparticles for detection of biomarkers or bacteria. , Recently, the advancement of molecular diagnostics allows an innovative agglutination format through nucleic acid hybridization to detect amplicons of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or other nucleic acid targets. ,− We harness the molecular approach that immobilizes a pair of oligonucleotide probes on microparticles, respectively, followed by agglutination formation against target bacterial nucleic acid through a hybridization reaction. Because there are more than 10 000 copies of 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) per bacterial cell, this high abundance not only allows us to circumvent drawbacks of nucleic acid amplification, but also ensures high sensitivity against target bacteria.…”

A smartphone-based particle diffusometry platform for sub-attomolar detection of Vibrio cholerae in environmental water

“…This portable Raman spectrometer allows rapid, real-time analysis; however, its applications are limited due to poor sensitivity and specificity (Zeng et al, 2018). Wu et al developed a dark-field smartphone microscope to be used in combination with an immunoassay for rapid and specific detection of E. coli in water samples down to 10 cells/10 mL after filtration (Wu et al, 2017). Although sensitive, immunoassays involve several time-sensitive user steps that limit the usability of such platforms in the field.…”

Detection of cholera toxin with surface plasmon field‐enhanced fluorescent spectroscopy

“…Culture-based detection of V. Cholerae, for example, requires bacterial growth in a liquid enrichment medium, a highly selective agar medium, and a less selective culture medium, which extends the analysis time to 2-8 days. To overcome these problems, molecular methods based on quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR), [10][11][12] multiplex PCR, 13,14 microarrays, [15][16][17] biosensors, [18][19][20] and immunoassays 21,22 have been developed for the detection of pathogens. Among these methods, immunoassay-based methods require pre-enrichment to reduce the cell surface antigens, while DNA extraction and post-amplification processes are needed in PCR-based detection of pathogens.…”