Presenter
Lili He, Associate Professor
Department of Food Science
Time: TBA
Location: TBA
Description
One in every five foodborne illness cases in the United States are the result of improper handling of food in the home setting. Alongside with the efforts to educate citizens of the importance of safe food-handling practices at home through effective instruction and meaningful outreach, there is an imminent need for a simple and inexpensive tool or device that consumers can easily use to quickly determine the microbiological risks of foods or surfaces within their own homes. The overall goal of this study is to develop a simple, rapid and sensitive smartphone-based method to detect bacteria cells in the home setting. We developed a chip that can capture general bacteria cells and enhance their visibility under a low magnification objective. With an inexpensive microscopic adaptor, a smartphone can visualize the bacteria cells captured on this chip. The developed method can also be used as an education tool for assisting kids to learn bacteria-related knowledge.