Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Portable System for On-Site Detection of Legionella
EPA Contract Number: 68D99085Title: Portable System for On-Site Detection of Legionella
Investigators: Fernandez, Salvador M.
Small Business: Ciencia Inc.
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: II
Project Period: September 1, 1999 through September 1, 2001
Project Amount: $225,000
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase II (1999) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration , SBIR - Monitoring , Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
Description:
The goal of this project was to develop a fluorescence-based system (instrument plus reagents) for onsite quantitative detection of Legionella. Currently, Legionella testing must be performed in the laboratory, which is both costly and time consuming. There is a need for improved methods that are capable of rapid, onsite analysis. Ciencia, Inc.'s proposed system will be portable, low cost, and capable of high-sensitivity detection. In addition, it will provide rapid (approximately 1 hour) results and have the ability to distinguish between live and dead Legionella bacteria. No such systems are currently available. Detection is based on the integration of an innovative fluorescence immunoassay using phycobilisome markers and compact fluorescence instrumentation.Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
During Phase II, Ciencia, Inc. built a portable instrument prototype and created PBXL-1-antibody conjugates to develop a filtration fluorescence immunoassay for the rapid detection of Legionella in water samples. The performance of the instrument was evaluated at the University of Connecticut by Ciencia, Inc.'s collaborator. This research group determined that the intrinsic fluorescence of the PBXL-1-antibody conjugates is approximately 103 times greater than that of fluorescein isothiocyanate, which confirmed initial expectations and validated the basis for the selection of this label. However, the PBXL-label forms aggregates that make it unsuitable for a filtration assay, because these aggregates tend to become trapped in the filter, thereby contributing a high nonspecific signal to the measurement, which limits sensitivity.Conclusions:
Due to the unexpected difficulties caused by the aggregation problem, Ciencia, Inc. was not able to successfully develop a practical assay during this effort. Nevertheless, the basic approach appears to be sound, and it is believed that the approach could be made practical with the advent of appropriate labels. In this regard, ultrasensitive resonant light scattering labels being developed by other companies show considerable promise.Supplemental Keywords:
small business, SBIR, monitoring, water testing, cooling towers, bacterial pathogens, rapid detection, hospital water systems, EPA, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Water, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Monitoring/Modeling, Microbiology, Analytical Chemistry, Engineering, Chemistry, & Physics, environmental monitoring, microbial monitoring, pathogens, field portable monitoring, field portable systems, bacteria monitoring, field monitoring, municipal wastewater, biomonitoring, fluorescence detection, Ligionella detection, indoor air, measurement, innovative technologies, flourescence assay, microbial flora, atmospheric chemistrySBIR Phase I:
Portable System for On-Site Legionella Detection | 1999 Progress Report | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.