ColiFinder

ColiFinder. Rapid Coliform Test for Drinking Water and Industrial Processes

The detection of coliforms in drinking water is crucial not only for public health but also for industrial operations, particularly in industrial settings such as manufacturing plants, food and beverage production facilities. Coliform bacteria are indicators of fecal contamination and potential pathogenic threats, posing significant risks to industries that rely on high water quality for production, safety, and compliance. Contaminated water can compromise product quality, lead to costly recalls, and damage brand reputation, especially in sectors like food processing, where stringent water standards are essential. Traditional methods for coliform detection, which depend on culturing techniques, often have long turnaround times that delay corrective actions, increasing the risk of contamination spreading through industrial processes. Implementing rapid coliform screening detection technologies can provide immediate insights, allowing industries to prevent production disruptions. Additionally, such approach can help industries meet regulatory standards more efficiently, avoiding penalties and enhancing sustainability practices. Moreover, such innovation could significantly reduce disease burden and improve access to safe drinking water globally, emphasizing its critical role in safeguarding public health.  The ColiFinder proposal addresses the development of a rapid and portable test for detecting coliforms in drinking water, providing a critical tool for ensuring water safety. Designed for use in both low-resource settings and high-income countries, this innovative approach significantly reduces turnaround times compared to traditional methods, enabling real-time decision-making and improving public health and industrial water quality standards. The proposed coliform detection test will explore three distinct approaches, each designed to meet the legislative requirements for the limit of detection (LOD) in drinking water. These approaches are integrated with a portable rapid detection platform (RDT), which includes a disposable cartridge and a compact reader for efficient operation.  The first approach, rapid preenrichment, enhances bacterial growth to detectable levels prior to detection in the RDT platform, making it a time-efficient strategy for increasing sensitivity. The second approach, filtration combined with immunomagnetic separation (IMS), is designed to isolates and concentrates coliform from high volume of sample to reach LODs. The third approach focuses on LAMP amplification of genetic material. This approach can generate billions of tagged concatemers copies from a single target molecule, increasing the sensitivity of the approach, that can be rapidity detected with the RDT platform to provide the results of coliforms within half an hour and in low resource settings. Each approach will be evaluated to determine its effectiveness in reducing the LOD to the levels required by drinking water regulations, enabling the development of the ColiFinder system as a versatile solution adaptable to various analytical scenarios. This targeted evaluation ensures the product can address diverse water testing needs, providing a reliable and portable platform for real-time monitoring in compliance with regulatory standards.  The ColiFinder test for coliform detection is rapid, cost-effective, and requires minimal handling, making it an ideal solution for industrial water quality monitoring. It can be easily integrated into routine testing protocols across various industrial settings, such as food and beverage production or pharmaceutical manufacturing, where water quality is critical. While its primary application focuses on coliform detection to ensure compliance with drinking water regulations, the approach is highly adaptable and can be extended to detect other water and foodborne pathogens. This flexibility enhances its value as a versatile tool for safeguarding public health and maintaining operational standards in industries, while also addressing broader microbial monitoring needs. The combination of academic and industrial partners in the ColiFinder consortium, provides a highly complementary study team, which will deliver project aims according to chronogram. This, in combination with a valorization and commercialization plan, will pave the way for future large-scale implementation. 

This three year project is funded by the European Union.

The Consortium

The AmpliSenS consortium is led by BioEclosion SL and includes:

• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
• IUL SA

Participants UAB

Anaixis del Valle, Jennifer Marfà, Rosanna Rossi, Juan Carlos Porras-Marichal, Mercè Martí, María Isabel Pividori

Total funding

€967.444,36 (awarded by Mecanismo de Recuperación y Resiliencia de la Unión Europea)

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