Digital Inline Holographic Microscopy (DIHM) Software for Bacteria Detection
Mentor 1
Marcia Silva
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
28-4-2017 1:30 PM
End Date
28-4-2017 4:00 PM
Description
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 1603, the current industry standard for detecting Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in waters is 24 hours. The water sample must first be sent to a laboratory for analysis, which is laborious and takes time to release the results. This is unacceptable in terms of public safety as infected drinking water may be distributed to a large population before the infection can be detected. To solve this problem, this project aims to produce a hand-held sensor that can detect bacteria in a matter of hours without laboratory analysis. This project emphasizes how environmental engineering solutions can be improved with the assistance of the state-of-the-art computer science technology and how this project benefits from interdisciplinary links between the two research areas.
The computer science approach allows miniaturization, reduced cost, increased deployability and increased energy efficiency through software. The cost of the sensor is reduced by using software that can detect and analyze particles from a two-dimensional picture of a three-dimensional volume water sample. This has the same effect as using lenses for focusing. As a result, the overall cost of the sensor will be reduced by the exclusion of lenses and the inclusion of software that achieves the same result. The quick speed of bacteria detection by the hand-held sensor is also determined by software. Once the images are taken of the water sample, volume reconstruction is done through the DIHM method. The software then gives an accurate particle concentration measurement. By using advanced software techniques such as DIHM, the sensor's cost is reduced and the speed is increased. This allows for the sensor to provide bacteria detection that's much faster than the current industry standard, allowing for much better public health standards.
Digital Inline Holographic Microscopy (DIHM) Software for Bacteria Detection
Union Wisconsin Room
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 1603, the current industry standard for detecting Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in waters is 24 hours. The water sample must first be sent to a laboratory for analysis, which is laborious and takes time to release the results. This is unacceptable in terms of public safety as infected drinking water may be distributed to a large population before the infection can be detected. To solve this problem, this project aims to produce a hand-held sensor that can detect bacteria in a matter of hours without laboratory analysis. This project emphasizes how environmental engineering solutions can be improved with the assistance of the state-of-the-art computer science technology and how this project benefits from interdisciplinary links between the two research areas.
The computer science approach allows miniaturization, reduced cost, increased deployability and increased energy efficiency through software. The cost of the sensor is reduced by using software that can detect and analyze particles from a two-dimensional picture of a three-dimensional volume water sample. This has the same effect as using lenses for focusing. As a result, the overall cost of the sensor will be reduced by the exclusion of lenses and the inclusion of software that achieves the same result. The quick speed of bacteria detection by the hand-held sensor is also determined by software. Once the images are taken of the water sample, volume reconstruction is done through the DIHM method. The software then gives an accurate particle concentration measurement. By using advanced software techniques such as DIHM, the sensor's cost is reduced and the speed is increased. This allows for the sensor to provide bacteria detection that's much faster than the current industry standard, allowing for much better public health standards.
