Abstract
Monitoring the early onset of bacterial film formation is critical in many clinical, environmental, and food quality control applications. We built a small inexpensive optical surface cytometer, in contrast with bulk spectroscopic methods, around a light-emitting diode (LED) and a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor. It is designed to offer a large field-of-view of 200 mm2 and a large depth-of-field of 2-3 mm to overcome the limitations of routine methods like spectrophotometry and fluorescence microscopy. It provides a direct measurement without the need for complex image post-processing with a limit-of-detection around 104 cells/mm2, which is competitive with other similar yet more complex devices already available.
Highlights
IntroductionThere is a growing need for compact low-cost methods and biosensors, for pointof-care (POC) applications where resources (space, time, and budget) are often very limited
There is a growing need for compact low-cost methods and biosensors, for pointof-care (POC) applications where resources are often very limited
The main drive of the present study was to compare the generation of a growth curve using our low-cost platform to standard accepted methods such as absorbance measurements and fluorescence microscopy
Summary
There is a growing need for compact low-cost methods and biosensors, for pointof-care (POC) applications where resources (space, time, and budget) are often very limited. For point-of-care (POC) applications, the monitoring or testing device must be compact, low-cost, and easy to use by minimally trained personnel since it will need to be promptly deployed on the contamination site. The first step of microbial biofilm formation is the adhesion of a few cells to a surface [1], which is why many state-of-the-art sensors for biofilm detection rely on surface measurements. Multispecies biofilms have shown stronger resistance to antibiotics in a biofilm than when in suspension [3], which is another strong reason to develop accurate methods to measure biofilm formation and take preventive action in the early stages
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