Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

At Queen's we have developed a new technology for microbiological contaminant detection in water. This work was initiated in direct response to the Walkerton tragedy of May 2000. Ours is the only technology which can test for E. coli and Total Coliform bacteria on-site and perform with higher reliability than current tests. This has the potential to dramatically improve water safety and monitoring capacity in Canada and on a global scale. The company Pathogen Detection Systems (PDS) was formed in Kingston in 2003 to commercialize this technology. In this proposal, we propose to partner with PDS to enhance the technology and to significantly expand the range of contaminants which can be detected. The state of the technology today is summarized as follows: i) A test for EC and TC giving a ""presence/absence"" (P/A) result is available as a prototype, with the combined test running in disposable (single-use) test cartridges in a bench-top, manual sampled instrument. ii) The P/A result has been certified and approved for use in Ontario (see below). iii) The test takes 18 hrs to declare an ""absent"" result, with positive samples (as few as one cell) normally detected in under 14 hrs. At the end of the proposed work period, we will have accomplished the following to the technology: 1) A faster EC and TC test, with single organisms normally detected in 10-12 hrs and an ""absent"" time of 14-16 hrs, and a more rapid EC-only test with single organisms detected in 8-10 hrs. 2) Quantitative testing capability, where a ""colony forming unit-equivalent"" (CFU) value is reported with The P/A result. 3) A modified test to provide detection of any general microorganisms in a P/A sterility test, using the same technology platform, ready for validation and certification trials. 4) A modified test to provide immunoassay-based detection of various contaminants as per standard antibodies as commercially available, using the same technology platform, ready for proof-of-concept testing leading to validation. We will also train three students and a post-doctoral fellow who will become strong contributors to the environmental biotechnology sector, where there is currently high demand in Canada.