Tag Archives: detection

MIT phage-based bacterial detection for produce

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Ever wonder why fruits and vegetables sometimes hit the shelves contaminated by pathogenic bacteria such as listeria, E. coli, and salmonella?

According to Tim Lu, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering at MIT, it boils down to the inefficient bacteria-750px-PhageExterior.svgdetection assays used in the food industry. In some cases, these aren’t accurate or speedy enough — sometimes taking several days to catch contaminated produce.

But now Lu’s startup, Sample6, is commercializing an advanced assay platform that “lights up” pathogenic bacteria for quick detection, with the ability to detect only a few bacteria. 

Based on Lu’s graduate school research at MIT, the assay uses biological particles called bacteriophages, or phages, which only target bacteria. In Sample6’s case the assay is engineered to inject pathogenic bacteria — specifically, listeria — with an enzyme that reprograms the bacteria to shine very brightly.  

To use the commercial assay, called the Bioillumination Platform, factory workers simply swab samples with a sponge, wait for the phages to do their work, and run the sample through a machine that detects any light emitted. Results can be plugged into the company’s software, which tracks contaminated products and can provide analytics on whether contamination correlates with certain days, people, or suppliers.  

Data analysis allows researchers to predict disease outbreaks

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Researchers tracking social media and Web searches have, according to USA Today, detected outbreaks of the flu and rare diseases in Latin America by up to two weeks before they were reported by local news media or government health agencies.

Working at a series of universities and companies around the country, the researchers are part of a program led by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA) that is aimed at anticipating critical social.media.likesocietal events, such as disease outbreaks, violent uprisings or economic crises before they appear in the news.

“The goal is to use publicly available information to predict events, such as political violence, disease outbreaks and economic crises,” said Jason Matheny, program manager of IARPA’s Open Source Indicators program. “We’re using leading indicators like social media, Web search trends, Wikipedia in order to identify the events. We’re looking at flu outbreaks or other signs of unrest in a population.”

IARPA’s goal, Matheny said, is to inform U.S. policymakers about major events early enough to make more of a difference. Too often, he said, public announcements of disease outbreaks come too late. Intelligence analysts with access to a system able to eliminate the clutter that’s common in open source data may be able to get a jump on disease outbreaks or other problems.

IARPA is the intelligence community’s version of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which performs much of the military’s research into technology to make better weapons or improve medical treatments.