LOVE-FOOD · Love wave fully integrated Lab-on-Chip platform for food pathogen detection

The project is aimed at developing a fully integrated lab-on-chip microsystem platform, performing multimodal analysis of several analytes combining nucleic acid and whole bacteria detection. The system will allow directly and without prior culture the identification in one single run of a multiplicity of pathogens and their specific sequences responsible will be targeted and identified. The heart of this system will be an acoustic detection biochip incorporating an array of Love wave acoustic sensors, integrated with a microfluidic module. This detection platform will be combined with a micro-processor, which, alongside with magnetic beads technology and a micro-PCR module will be responsible for performing sample pre-treatment, bacteria lysis, nucleic acid purification and amplification as well as whole bacteria detection. Automated, multiscale manipulation of fluids in complex microchannel networks will be combined with novel sensing principles developed by some of the partners. This system is expected to have a significant impact in food-pathogen detection by addressing for the first time a pathological condition on a global rather than germ-by-germ basis, while screening simultaneously for various pathogens. Finally, thanks to the low cost and compact technologies involved, the proposed set-up is expected to provide a competitive analytical platform for direct application in field settings.