Researchers from the Kansas State University are in the process of developing a biosensor that detects cancerous cells and pathogens at early stages. This would indirectly reduce the health risks and also increase food safety.
A doctoral student from India by name Lateef Syed along with an associate professor of chemistry by name Jun Li are working on this research. Their research currently revolves around E. coli, but they are confident of extending the technology to other pathogens like salmonella and viruses.
Syed observed that Kansas is more susceptible to pathogen outbreaks as meat and poultry industries dominate the state. This means a high risk for the health of the people; the research therefore concentrates on the early detection of pathogens thus preventing outbreaks. The research poster created by Syed named, “Dielectrophoretic Capture of E. coli at Nanoelectrode Arrays," won the first place at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka. Also an article related to this topic would be published in the journal Electrophoresis. Syed has spent a considerable amount of time researching on nanotechnology-based biosensors for use in cancer biomarker detection and pathogen detection.
Jun Li has spent 15 years researching nanotechnology and he finds it a very exciting field for research having lot of scope for addressing health care and food safety issues. The current project is an extension of Li’s research at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. During his research here he hit upon the idea of developing a chip to capture and sense pathogens.
Li continued his research with Syed after shifting to Kansas. They are using carbon nanofibers, as they can be made into an array of small electrodes. They can be reduced to such minute sizes that are even smaller than bacteria or viruses. As per Syed, they intend to integrate this technology in the form of a hand-held device so that it can be used in many applications like assessing water or food quality at industrial sites. Based on some initial test results he is positive of the feasibility of this design. A Canadian-based company, called Early Warning first came forward with funding, grating 240,000 dollars for a period of two years, later the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases, or CEEZAD also contributed additional funds.
Source: http://www.k-state.edu/