Microfluidic Chip Designed for Detecting Bacteria

A new "on-chip” technique for sorting and identifying bacteria has been created by biomedical engineers in Taiwan.

The technique, developed by Dr. Hsien-Chang Chang, a professor at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystems Engineering at National Cheng Kung University (Tainan City, Taiwan), along with former graduate student I-Fang Cheng and their colleagues, was published in the September 2010 issue of the journal Biomicrofluidics.

Using roughened glass slides patterned with gold electrodes, the researchers created microchannels to sort, trap, and identify bacteria. The technique employed surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. This type of spectroscopy, noted Dr. Chang, "is based on the measurement of scattered light from the vibration energy levels of chemical bonds following excitation in a craggy metal surface, which enhances the vibration energy.”

Different components such as proteins or other chemical components on the surface of bacteria become attached to the craggy gold zone; when excited, these components cause representative peaks at different wavelengths, creating spectral "fingerprints.” Although some species of bacteria could show very similar signatures because the components on their surfaces are nearly the same, according to Dr. Chang, bacteria from different species are distinguishable using the technique.

"In the future, different species of fungi could also be sorted based on their different electrical or physical properties by optimizing conditions such as the flow rate, applied voltage, and frequency,” Dr. Chang concluded. "This portable device could be used for preliminary screening for the pathogenic targets in bacteria-infected blood, urethral irritation, and of raw milk and for food monitoring.”

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