MINATEC

Measuring the concentrations of various organic volatile compounds (VOC) emitted by a culture of bacteria yields a signature that is characteristic from this bacterium. That is why detection of microbial organic volatile compounds instigates a growing interest, leading to potential applications in the field of pathogens detection and identification.

Measuring the concentrations of various organic volatile compounds (VOC) emitted by a culture of bacteria yields a signature that is characteristic from this bacterium. That is why detection of microbial organic volatile compounds instigates a growing interest, leading to potential applications in the field of pathogens detection and identification. In collaboration with Francis Perrin Laboratory at CEA Saclay, we have designed nanoporous materials for the detection of some common microbial VOC. These materials are prepared in the sol-gel way and include a probe molecule. The latter is chosen so as to react specifically with a target VOC, in liquid or gaseous phase, in order to yield an absorbent and/or fluorescent product, leading to direct optical transduction sensors. The thesis aims at developing some new detectors for the detection and identification of pathogen bacteria dealing with microbiological monitoring in industry, such as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, etc.