The increasing demand for rapid detection of pathogen cells to ensure water, food, agricultural and environmental safety has attracted a lot of interest in developing efficient and fast detection methods. Current commercially available solutions require a highly trained microbiologist and are mostly limited by their analysis time, throughput, consistency and reliability of results.

Developing a new lab-on-chip platform technology is one key research focus at IME. IME’s platform technology uniquely integrates a highly efficient proprietary mechanism for magnetic separation of specific microbial cells from suspended solids in real water matrices with an ultra-sensitive quantitative detection method based on a novel cell immobilization technique. It leverages on a unique combination of expertise in magneto-fluidics, microbiology and microelectronics. The result is an integrated quantitative system from concentration, purification to detection with disposable cartridges for ultra-sensitive detection of pathogens in environmental water samples. This development is funded by Exploit Technologies, the marketing and commercialisation arm of A*STAR, as one of its flagship projects.

IME has successfully tested the first continuous-flow magnetic separation prototype capable of isolating pathogen cells. The method starts by concentrating the micro-organisms via filtration. The concentrate is then mixed with magnetic micro-particles that are coated with antibodies specific to the targeted microorganisms. The magnetic labeled cells are then flowed through a channel placed in a specifically-designed variable magnetic field that allows non-magnetically bound contaminants to be washed away, while magnetically bound ones are concentrated and purified. The magnetically bound cells are then tagged with a fluorescent label and subsequently flowed to a silicon chip where they are individually isolated for optical quantification.

IME is seeking collaborative opportunities with business partners to manufacture and market this platform technology. In addition to the integrated device for waterborne pathogen detection, the system will be developed as a laboratory equipment for magnetic separation of cells in microbiology applications (food, clinical, environmental), medical research applications and molecular biology applications.

Cells magnetic separation system with disposable cartridge.