Project Description

The effective control and reduction of infectious diseases caused by foodborne pathogens are major concerns worldwide. Among these, E. coli O157:H7 only is responsible for more than 2 million acute illnesses annually worldwide. Most pathogen detection methods, including field-deployable sensors, do not come with a pathway to move beyond the laboratory and into the field. Moreover, multiplexing is not currently available despite presenting with important advantages for early detection and intervention.
Our long-term goal is to understand the critical design parameters necessary to create new and innovative manufacturing platforms that will allow for sensitive, accurate, and repeatable multiplexed detection of foodborne pathogens with high precision and accuracy. Such a device, capable of detection whole-cell foodborne pathogens in complex food samples has not been yet developed. The manufacturing platform will come with enhanced ability to detect and quantify multiple targets at the same time.
The success of this research will result in a future manufacturing platform capable of translating biosensing technologies related to the food safety area from the laboratory to the market. The proposed work consists of the creation and integration of roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing strategies for model affinity foodborne pathogen multiplexed paper based biosensors.

Start Date

05/01/2021-04/30/2023 

Postdoc Qualifications

Ph.D. in Materials, Chemical, or Biomedical Engineering, or Chemistry, Food Science, Microbiology and related fields is required. Previous experience on biosensor research or microbiology and strong drive to learn in an interdisciplinary field and acquire new skills at the interface between Science and Engineering. 

Co-Advisors

Lia Stanciu, School of Materials Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering, Birck Nanotechnology Center; lstanciu@purdue.edu
https://lia-stanciu.squarespace.com/?_ga=2.220551517.475451286.1598361022-527612747.1572349193

Amanda Deering, Department of Food Science. adeering@purdue.edu
https://ag.purdue.edu/foodsci/Pages/profile.aspx?strAlias=adeering 

References

S. Diaz-Amaya, M. Zhao, L.K. Lin, C. Ostos, J.P. Allebach, G.T. Chiu, A.J. Deering, and L.A. Stanciu, Inkjet Printed Nanopatterned Aptamer-Based Sensors for Improved Optical Detection of Foodborne Pathogens, Small (2019), 15(24); p. e1805342

S.B. Mullaney, D.R. Huatt, M.D. Salan, S. Rao, and B.J McCluskey, Estimate of the annual burden of foodborne illness in nondeployed active duty US Army Service Members: five major pathogens, 2010-2015. Epidemiology and Infection (2019), 147

S. Diaz-Amaya, L.K. Lin, A.J. Deering, L.A. Stanciu, Aptamer-based SERS biosensors for whole cell analytical detection of E. Coli O157:H7, Analytica Chimica Acta 1081: 146-156.

S. Diaz-Amaya, M. Zhao, J.P. Allebach, GTC Chiu, L.A. Stanciu, Ionic Strength Influences on Biofunctional Au-Decorated Microparticles for Enhanced Performance in Multiplexed Colorimetric Sensors, ACS Materials and Interfaces (2020) 12, 29, 32397-32409.