Our Sensor

The goal of our project is to design a biosensor to rapidly identify cattle known as super shedders. Super shedders are cattle that excrete extremely large numbers of E.coliO157:H7, a subgroup of E. coli referred to as Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). EHEC organisms produce a toxin called Shiga toxin or verotoxin, which causes hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans and can be deadly.

We are building a DNA-based biosensor that specifically detects the gene called stx2 that is common among all EHEC organisms. Our device will be useful for the detection of not only the O157:H7 strain of E.coli but for the other EHEC strains as well. View our animation below to see how the system would actually work!

The FerriTALE System: