New Technology to Identify Blood Pathogens

A unique sensing device has been developed by students at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT, Chicago, USA) that allows doctors to detect and identify pathogens in the blood much faster than conventional lab tests. The student-led study was published in the September 30, 2001, issue of the Journal of Microbiology.

The sensing device, known as an electronic nose, is an array of small sensors that can detect gases given off by microscopic organisms that can infect blood, such as e coli and staphylococcus bacteria. The sensors are linked to a computer that can analyze the gas signature and compare it to signatures from known pathogens. While current labs use methods that can take up to 48 hours to identify pathogens in the blood, IIT's electronic nose can reduce the time to 24 hours. Electronic noses that can identify the presence of the tuberculosis bacterium are under development.

"There are millions of neurons that bind molecules in the nose that the brain recognizes as specific odors,” says Christopher Morong, a senior at IIT and a co-author of the study. "The e-nose is the same way, except it only has eight sensors, but it still has the potential to identify hundreds of specific scent signatures.”




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