Microbiologist battles foodborne pathogen
Randy Woodson, director of Purdue's Office of Agricultural Research
Programs, says that Bhunia's research is vital because current methods
of detecting food contaminants are too slow, and that means dangerous
bacteria may reach consumers' tables.
"A rapid testing system would ensure that food containing harmful
bacteria is detected before it enters the food chain," Woodson
says. "Arun is willing to use his knowledge of the organism's basic
biology to work with other researchers, such as engineers, to develop
new tools."
When Bhunia arrived at Purdue in August 1998, he joined forces with
other researchers in the Departments of Food Science and Agricultural
and Biological Engineering and the School of Electrical and Computer
Engineering to develop contaminant detection methods.
"I realized from a microbiology standpoint you could only reach
a certain level in detection methods," Bhunia says. "For instance,
if you have high numbers of bacteria from food, they can be detected
without using engineering tools. But when you have low numbers, microbiologically,
we cannot do it in a short time period."
Bhunia realized that to develop a sensitive, rapid detection system
he would need to be familiar with a whole new language engineering.
The engineers also learned from him because Bhunia understood the workings
of the bacteria, how small they are and how rapidly they could become
dangerous.
"We've educated each other so we could be productive," he
says.
When Bhunia was doing his postdoctoral work, his main project was to
develop antibodies for Listeria, which led to immunologic assays, or
tests, to identify the bacteria. From this, he found a line of mouse
cells that would die when exposed to a pathogenic form of Listeria.
The cells would remain viable if the bacteria weren't infectious.
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