12th International Symposium on Bioluminescence & Chemiluminescence

Symposium abstracts:

Development of a whole cell biochip for toxicant detection

Waldie, Fiona L.¹, Binnie, David², Christofi, Nick¹

1. Pollution Research Unit, School of Life Sciences and 2. School of Engineering, Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh EH10 5DT, UK. E-mail: f.waldie@napier.ac.uk

In the development of biosensors for ecotoxicity testing it is desirable to produce a small, portable system that can be used in the field. Toxicity testing using bioluminescence is widely used in the laboratory utilising natural and genetically modified (lux/luc-marked) bacteria and other microorganisms. It is currently not possible to use genetically manipulated microorganisms in field testing and a biosensor, therefore, that incorporates naturally luminescent organisms may be preferred.

            In the development of a biosensor it is aimed to use the naturally luminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri as a toxicity detection system on a chip. The bacterium will be immobilised in a polymeric matrix. Current work deals with the optimisation of light output and light preservation within the bacterium prior to immobilisation in polyvinyl alcohol. An examination of a range of physicochemical conditions within the polymer will be made, including  cell density, thickness of polymer film, growth and light induction environment, and, preservation conditions,  in order to develop a testing system  giving consistent results over the lifetime of the biosensor. Data will be presented on light production using different culture media for the growth of V. fischeri and retention of light under immobilised conditions.

This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in Luminescence: Copyright 2001 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd (Wiley website)