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Objective
This research is a short-term feasibility study to evaluate the use of an acoustic wave sensor for the determination of pathogens in food, and potentially, many other applications.
More information
A quartz crystal microbalance will be coated with antibodies specific for a known food pathogen, e.g., Salmonella typhimurium, and the changing frequency of the crystal due to the weight of the adhered pathogen cells will signal the presence of problem microbes. Ultimately, a small microchip containing several pathogen and/or chemical sensors might be inexpensive enough to include in the food packaging and used to monitor the product quality from the processing plant to the point of sale.
Institution
Auburn University
Start date
1998
End date
2000
Funding Source
Project number
9814412
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