Monitoring Food and Water for Pathogens

Having achieved or exceeded all goals and objectives of the Phase I research program, BioScale has thus demonstrated feasibility of a multiplexed, immuno-electromechanical pathogen detection method. In Phase II, BioScale proposes to advance this research by assembling a complete assay system that integrates discrete, commercial off the shelf (COTS) sample preparation subcomponents with the proprietary BioScale detection platform for the purpose of validation testing. In the Baseline Proposal, BioScale will demonstrate detection of multiple pathogens using inoculated food matrices with analyses being in a non-multiplexed format. Two follow-on options are proposed: In Option A, BioScale proposes to demonstrate multiplexed detection of pathogens that were studied in the baseline effort. For Option B, BioScale proposes to conduct challenge testing (i.e., specificity and sensitivity testing) that will simulate conditions expected to be encountered in the field, especially regarding potential interfering organisms.