Current state-of-the-art sensors detect viable bacteria in suspensions of interest (such as food water or body fluids) on the basis of changes in the composition of the suspension brought about by bacterial metabolism (such as pH electrical conductivity O2/CO2 levels etc.) Examples of such sensors include the BactecTM BacT/AlertTM and ESPTM systems for Blood Culture the RABITTM system for food and water quality (microbial load) measurements etc. If the load of viable bacteria happen to be low these systems take a long time (many hours to days) to detect these bacteria. This invention provides a faster way of detecting viable bacteria especially for situations where low numbers (< 100 CFU/ml) are present. Rather than inferring the presence of viable bacteria by measuring metabolic changes this invention directly records an increase in bacterial number by tracking the charge stored in the interior of the suspension (the “bulk” capacitance). It has been recently shown that using this method the Time to Detection (TTD) for low numbers of viable bacteria are 4-10 times lower than those of current instruments mentioned above. Potential Areas of Applications: This method is ideal for cases where there is a need to detect the presence of viable bacteria and enumerate them in suspensions that may also contain dead bacteria. -Food Quality (microbial load) estimation -Blood Cultures -Water quality testing Further R&D required: The process needs to be reduced from four separate pieces into one dedicated instrument Patent Status: Patent application submitted Licensing Potential: University seeks licensee with the potential to commercialize
1) Faster detection of bacteria then current products available on the market 2) Designed to integrate with current market protocols and practices 3) Detects growth even at very low concentrations in a shorter time frame than before
Patent application submitted Licensing Potential: University seeks licensee with the potential to commercialize