RP5: Sensor for pathogens monitoring in water and food (ESR5, LiU)

The microorganisms (pathogens) which include fungi, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and worms cause disease in humans and other warm-blooded animals and are transmitted from one organism to another. These transmissions mainly occur by contamination of food/water or by direct contact. To measure the sanitary quality of water for agricultural, industrial, and water supply purposes, the fecal indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli, fecal coliforms and fecal streptococci are typically used. These bacteria survive few hrs or days in surface water and live long in ground water due to protection from sunlight and predators. For drinking water, water purification is required to avoid the microorganism. However, there is no clear way to associate (1) risk of disease and the presence of fecal indicator bacteria which present in ground water and (2) no report of relation between the presence specific pathogens and of fecal indicator bacteria. In addition to this, for the growth of microorganism, an optimum pH level is more favourable. Hence, this project will develop innovative amperometric sensors to monitor the pathogens in the surface and ground water and determine their relationship with other parameters of water quality.