Jiajia Hu

Detection of Salmonella Typhimurium on Spinach Using Phage-Based Magnetoelastic Biosensors

Phage-based magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors have been studied as an in-situ, real-time, wireless, direct detection method of foodborne pathogens in recent years. This paper investigates an ME biosensor method for the detection of Salmonella Typhimurium on fresh spinach leaves. A procedure to obtain a concentrated suspension of Salmonella from contaminated spinach leaves is described that is based on methods outlined in the U.S. FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual for the detection of Salmonella on leafy green vegetables. The effects of an alternative pre-enrichment broth (LB broth vs. lactose broth), incubation time on the detection performance and negative control were investigated. In addition, different blocking agents (BSA, Casein, and Superblock) were evaluated to minimize the effect of nonspecific binding. None of the blocking agents was found to be superior to the others, or even better than none. Unblocked ME biosensors were placed directly in a concentrated suspension and allowed to bind with Salmonella cells for 30 min before measuring the resonant frequency using a surface-scanning coil detector. It was found that 7 h incubation at 37 °C in LB broth was necessary to detect an initial spike of 100 cfu/25 g S. Typhimurium on spinach leaves with a confidence level of difference greater than 95% (p < 0.05). Thus, the ME biosensor method, on both partly and fully detection, was demonstrated to be a robust and competitive method for foodborne pathogens on fresh products.

Blocking Non-Specific Binding for Phage-Based Magnetoelastic Biosensors

The magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors are used to detect pathogen in fresh juice or milk by solenoid coil, and also developed for real-time, direct pathogen detection on food surfaces by surface-scanning coil. This paper presents blocking effect of different reagents on non-specific binding for detecting Salmonella typhimurium in apple juice using phage-based magnetoelastic biosensors. Three different blocking reagents of Bovine serum albumin, Superblock blocking buffer and blocker BLOTTO were used and evaluated. The results shows that blocker BLOTTO has the best blocking effect on non-specific binding.

In-situ detection of multiple pathogenic bacteria on food surfaces

Real-time in-situ detection of pathogenic bacteria on fresh food surfaces was accomplished with phage-based magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors. The ME biosensor is constructed of a small rectangular strip of ME material that is coated with a biomolecular recognition element (phage, antibodies or proteins, etc.) that is specific to the target pathogen. This mass-sensitive ME biosensor is wirelessly actuated into mechanical resonance by an externally applied time-varying magnetic field. When the biosensor binds with target bacteria, the mass of the sensor increases, resulting in a decrease in the sensors resonant frequency. In order to compensate for nonspecific binding, control biosensors without phage were used in this experiment. In previous research, the biosensors were measured one by one. However, the simultaneous measurement of multiple sensors was accomplished in this research, and promises to greatly shorten the analysis time for bacterial detection. Additionally, the use of multiple biosensors enables the possibility of simultaneous detection of different pathogenic bacteria. This paper presents results of experiments in which multiple phage-based ME biosensors were simultaneously monitored. The E2 phage and JRB7 phage from a landscape phage library served as the bio-recognition element that have the capability of binding specifically with Salmonella typhimurium and B. anthracis spores, respectively. Real-time in-situ detection of Salmonella typhimurium and B. anthracis spores on food surfaces are presented.

Alternative soaking media for the FDA procedure in the detection of salmonella from tomatoes and spinach leaf using phage magnetoelastic biosensors

Efforts were made to incorporate the phage Magnetoelastic (ME) biosensor in FDAs Spinach Soaking procedures according to FDA 2015 BAM method. Three soaking materials (Lactose broth, LB broth, and Peptone water) and various soaking times were investigated. Using merely 100 Salmonella cells spiked on the produce surfaces, the phage biosensors detected Salmonella within 5 hours when soaking tomatoes in LB broth as opposed to taking up to 24 hours. Salmonella was detected on spinach leaves within 7 hours. These phage ME biosensors provide a promising rapid detection platform using LB broth in FDAs soaking procedures while shortening the incubation period.

Nature-inspired magnetoelastic biosentinels for the detection of pathogenic bacteria in stagnant liquids

This paper presents an investigation into magnetoelastic (ME) biosentinels that capture and detect low-concentration pathogenic bacteria in stagnant liquids. The ME biosentinels are designed to mimic a variety of white blood cell types, known as the main defensive mechanism in the human body against different pathogenic invaders. The ME biosentinels are composed of a freestanding ME resonator coated with an engineered phage that specifically binds with the pathogens of interest. These biosentinels are ferromagnetic and thus can be moved through a liquid by externally applied magnetic fields. In addition, when a time-varying magnetic field is applied, the ME biosentinels can be placed into mechanical resonance by magnetostriction. As soon as the biosentinels bind with the target pathogen through the phage-based biomolecular recognition, a change in the biosentinel’s resonant frequency occurs, and thereby the presence of the target pathogen can be detected. Detection of Bacillus anthracis spores under stagnant flow conditions was demonstrated.

The blocking reagent optimization for the magnetoelastic biosensor

The wireless phage-based magnetoelastic (ME) biosensor has proven to be promising for real-time detection of pathogenic bacteria on fresh produces. The ME biosensor consists of a freestanding ME resonator as the signal transducer and filamentous phage as the biomolecular-recognition element, which can specifically bind to a pathogen of interest. Due to the Joule magnetostriction effect, the biosensors can be placed into mechanical resonance when subjected to a time-varying magnetic field alternating at the sensor’s resonant frequency. Upon the attachment of the target pathogen, the mass of the biosensor increases, thereby decreasing its resonant frequency. This paper presents an investigation of blocking reagents immobilization for detecting Salmonella Typhimurium on fresh food surfaces. Three different blocking reagents (BSA, SuperBlock blocking buffer, and blocker BLOTTO) were used and compared. The optical microscope was used for bacterial cells binding observation. Student t-test was used to statistically analysis the experiment results. The results shows that SuperBlock blocking buffer and blocker BLOTTO have much better blocking performance than usually used BSA.