SBIR-STTR Award

A Graphene-based Handheld Device for Rapid Detection of Escherichia coli Bacteria in Water
Award last edited on: 3/27/2021

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
USDA
Total Award Amount
$100,000
Award Phase
1
Solicitation Topic Code
8.4
Principal Investigator
Ganhua Lu

Company Information

NanoAffix Science LLC

1225 Discovery Parkway Room 220
Wauwatosa, WI 53226
   (414) 243-3142
   info@nanoaffix.com
   www.nanoaffix.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 05
County: Milwaukee

Phase I

Contract Number: 2020-00906
Start Date: 5/8/2020    Completed: 4/30/2022
Phase I year
2020
Phase I Amount
$100,000
This SBIR Phase I project aims to develop a graphene-based handheld device for the rapid detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in fresh water. Clean and safe water is crucial for human health sustainable agricultural and food production healthy ecosystems and prosperous industries. Water quality monitoring is one of the core requirements for managing water resources and calls for accurate and accessible detection technologies to ensure quality control and early warning capabilities for users to minimize negative impacts. There is an unmet need for the real- time in situ and low-cost monitoring of biotic and a biotic contaminants in various water sources (e.g. surface water groundwater and process water).E. coli bacteria are among the most prevalent pathogens that exist widely in the environment and can spread quickly and easily through water and food. A subspecies of E. coli referred to as Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli are most dangerous pathogens commonly prevalent in the environment and are life-threatening to humans. The US EPA has recommended the use of E. coli in fresh water as an indicator organism. FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule has established water quality requirements for the safe growing harvesting packing and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption. Conventional approaches for E. coli detection in water have significant limitations such as a high cost long turn-around time (hours to days) and requirement of specialized operators. NanoAffix Science LLC (NAFX) proposes to develop a handheld device for sensitive specific fast and cost-effective E. coli detection in fresh water. This device consists of: (i) amicro-sized sensor chip which is built upon a patented graphene-gold nanoparticle (NP) sensing platform and integrated into a small test cell and (ii) a portable digital meter for direct display of testing results. The graphene-Au NP sensing platform has superior performance over the conventional E. coli detection methods because of several innovative features (e.g. maximized specific surface area with monolayer and non-agglomerated graphene sheets stable and specific binding sites for the bacterial cells through robust Au NPs conjugated with specific antibodies).Specific research objectives of the project are to: (1) improve the sensitivity and stability of the E.coli sensor chip; (2) investigate the specificity of the E. coli handheld device; (3) prototype a handheld device with improved reproducibility and calibration; and (4) validate the handheld device performance against the gold standard and seek EPA and FDA approval. The project will lead to a portable handheld device (i.e. a test cell containing the sensor chip connected with a digital meter using a USB connector) for rapid measurements of E. coli (both pathogenic and generic).The device performance will meet requirements for real-time on- site E. coli detection in fresh water. The device is anticipated to fulfill an unmet need and play a critical role in improving water safety for consumption and agricultural food production preservation of surface waters and public health. The handheld device will help reduce the healthcare cost from pathogenic bacteria-induced illnesses (100000 illnesses 3000hospitalizations 90 deaths and over $405 million cost annually in the US).The NAFX platform is versatile and can be engineered for a wide range of analytes (e.g. Legionella and Salmonella) with carefully-chosen specific probes. The microelectronics-based platform is conducive to interface with wireless communication devices (e.g. smart phones) for remote sensing.

Phase II

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Start Date: 00/00/00    Completed: 00/00/00
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