Professor Tim Dafforn
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham
Pathogen detection has become an ever more important part of our daily lives. Current state of the art in pathogen detection still remains a laboratory exercise based on ELISA, PCR and bacterial culture methods. In the past few years there has been a drive to move these assays from the lab to the place of need, with perhaps the most successful exemplar of this activity being the lateral flow or “dipstick” test. In our laboratory we have developed an entirely new method for detection of pathogens (as well as a range of other targets from drugs of abuse to explosives). The method takes its inspiration from the synthetic biology design-test approach and applies it to the development of engineered viral nanoparticles. These noodle-like particles are able to align in fluid flow (like stirred spaghetti) which allows us to record a signal using linear dichroism. We have modified these particles so they are able to bind specifically to target pathogens. Formation of this complex disrupts the alignment and changes the signal. We have Used this observation to develop an assay for E. coli O157 which we are currently in the process of commercialising in the form of a spinout company.