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Sensor100
April 2017
NewTechnology Could Offer Cheaper, Faster Food
Testing
Specialized droplets interact with bacteria and can be analyzed using a
smartphone.
The foodborne pathogen Escherichia coli O157 causes an estimated 73,000 illnesses
and 60 deaths every year in the United States. Better safety tests could help avoid
some of the illnesses caused by this strain of E. coli and other harmful bacteria, accord-
ing to MIT researchers who have come up with a possible new solution.
The new MIT test is based on a novel type of liquid droplet that can bind to bacterial
proteins.This interaction, which can be detected by either the naked eye or a smart-
phone, could offer a much faster and cheaper alternative to existing food safety tests.
“It’s a brand new way to do sensing,” says Timothy Swager, the John D. MacArthur Pro-
fessor of Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the study.“What we have here is
something that can be massively cheaper, with low entry costs.”
MIT News5 April
A new safety test for foodborne pathogens
is based on a novel type of liquid droplet
that can bind to bacterial proteins.This
interaction, which can be detected by either
the naked eye or a smartphone, could offer
a much faster and cheaper alternative to
existing food safety tests.
Image: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT
(droplet imes courtesy of Qifan Zhang)