Technion researchers have developed a method that enables the immediate identification of bacterial contamination in water

The Technion researchers drilled tiny, nanometer-sized pores in silicon in an electrochemical reaction. This perforated chip has a characteristic optical imprint in the visible light range and a special polymer is used as an arm to bind specific antibodies to the bacteria and thus capture them

Technion researchers have developed an innovative method that enables the immediate detection of bacterial contamination in water. The research was funded by the Defense Science and Technology Center, the National Science Foundation, and the Russell Berry Center for Research in Nanotechnology at the Technion and is published in the scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials.

The accepted method today for identifying and monitoring bacteria in water is carried out by sampling in the field and sending the samples for analysis in a microbiological laboratory. The identification and quantification of contamination in the laboratory is indeed accurate, but it requires a lot of time (between two days and a week), skilled personnel, and sometimes also the use of complex and expensive laboratory equipment.

In the laboratory of Dr. Ester Segal from the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion, an advanced silicon chip is being developed that allows to identify and quantify the bacterial contamination within minutes already in the field and without the need to send samples to the laboratory. The Technion researchers drilled tiny, nanometer-sized pores in silicon in an electrochemical reaction. "This perforated chip has a characteristic optical imprint in the visible light range," explains Dr. Segal. "We bind to it a special polymer, which we also developed in our laboratories, and it is used as an arm to bind specific antibodies to the bacteria. This special structure traps the bacteria on the surface of the silicone. The 'trapped' bacteria cause a change in the light spectrum reflected from the chip, and this is how we detect them. A signal sent from the computerized optical system can warn in real time about the bacterial contamination."

A possible application of the chip developed by Dr. Segal from the Technion, together with doctoral student Naama Mesad-Ivnir and master's student Giorgi Stenberg, is in the establishment of an infrastructure for immediate warning of infections. Moreover - the message will not be general but will provide immediate information about the type of infection. This is an extremely effective method for combating biological terrorism but also for detecting contamination in drinking water, food and the environment.

Abstract of the scientific article