A microfluidic fluidized bed to capture, amplify and detect bacteria from raw samples

Bacterial contamination and subsequent infections are a major threat to human health. An early detection in the food chain, clinics or the environment, is key to limit this threat. We present a new concept to develop low-cost hand-held devices for the ultra-sensitive and specific detection of bacteria in a one-step process of 2–8 h, directly from complex raw samples. This approach is based on a novel microfluidic magnetic fluidized bed. It reaches a 4 CFU (colony forming unit) sensitivity with high quantification accuracy in a large dynamic range of 100–10⁷CFU/mL. The versatility of the approach was demonstrated with the detection of different bacteria strains, among which Salmonella Typhimurium and E. coli O157:H15. Additionally, the method is sensitive to infectious bacteria only, a criterion requested by main applications and currently requiring additional culture steps of one to several days.