posted on 2019-04-23, 00:00authored byLukas Zeininger, Sara Nagelberg, Kent S. Harvey, Suchol Savagatrup, Myles B. Herbert, Kosuke Yoshinaga, Joseph A. Capobianco, Mathias Kolle, Timothy M. Swager
Reliable early-stage
detection of foodborne pathogens is a global
public health challenge that requires new and improved sensing strategies.
Here, we demonstrate that dynamically reconfigurable fluorescent double
emulsions can function as highly responsive optical sensors for the
rapid detection of carbohydrates fructose, glucose, mannose, and mannan,
which are involved in many biological and pathogenic phenomena. The
proposed detection strategy relies on reversible reactions between
boronic acid surfactants and carbohydrates at the hydrocarbon/water
interface leading to a dynamic reconfiguration of the droplet morphology,
which alters the angular distribution of the droplet’s fluorescent
light emission. We exploit this unique chemical–morphological–optical
coupling to detect Salmonella enterica, a type of
bacteria with a well-known binding affinity for mannose. We further
demonstrate an oriented immobilization of antibodies at the droplet
interface to permit higher selectivity. Our demonstrations yield a
new, inexpensive, robust, and generalizable sensing strategy that
can help to facilitate the early detection of foodborne pathogens.