A palm-sized device created by researchers within our department detects E. coli in water supplies to reduce illness and save lives. The research is headed by Dr. Carolyn Ren within the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, but also includes researchers from the School of Pharmacy and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and postdoctoral fellow, Weijia Cui.
Costing only $70 to produce, the device includes a small, gold-plated sensor with a smartphone-sized board that contains a small instrument known as a vector network analyzer (VNA).
The sensor on the device is coated with an antibody that binds and attracts E. coli to its surface, indicating the presence of bacteria, when a few drops of water are applied. When E. Coli is detected, it triggers a shift in the resonance frequency of microwaves emitted by the sensor. The VNA is then able to determine the concentration and presence of the bacteria.
While the current device was tested using small samples, it can be adapted to test larger samples as well, making it easy to scale in developing countries where people are more vulnerable to E. coli contamination and testing can be limited.
Learn more about this device in Pocket-sized device detects E. coli in minutes in Waterloo News.