Throwing a new light on bacteria

Researchers from the University of Sheffield have received joint funding from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to develop an innovative sensor to detect bacteria.

The new method will use a polymer that will give a fluorescent signal when it encounters bacteria, allowing scientists to easily identify infected wounds much earlier than using conventional methodologies. The research team has spent five years designing special large molecules, or polymers, that can bind to cells; they are now developing polymers that can attach to bacterial cells.

The new technology will be of immediate benefit to healthcare industries in general, as well as to those involved in detecting infection in battlefield conditions and bacterial contamination, whether accidental or deliberate. Among its potential uses is in screening for MRSA.

Using current technologies, identifying bacterial infection takes several days and requires swabbing and culturing of bacterial swabs as well as the use of specialist bacteriology laboratory facilities. By combining polymers, which change shape when they encounter bacteria, and developing a light signal through fluorescence non radiative energy transfer (NRET), the researchers will be able to detect early stage bacterial contamination.

Being developed by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the university's departments of chemistry, engineering materials and the dental school, the sensor will have widespread applications beyond the initial project. The team will be led by Dr Steve Rimmer of the department of chemistry and consists of Dr Linda Swanson (chemistry) Professor Sheila MacNeil (engineering materials) and Dr Ian Douglas (clinical dentistry).

"The project is a great example of progress that can be achieved at the life sciences/physical sciences interface and we hope it will deliver technology of real importance," said Dr Rimmer. “Eventually we'll be able to tell whether a wound is infected and we should be able to tell which type of bacteria it is.”

The project has received £670,000 funding jointly from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) - an agency of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). It was initiated in December 2006 and will last for three years.