A Simple Microfluidics Design for Rapid Quantification of E. Coli in Contaminated Water

Diarrheal diseases are the second leading cause of death for young children worldwide, largely contributed to by E. Coli contamination. Conventional detection technologies require large timescales, temperature control, and manual counting. The use of microfluidics allows for microscopic imaging of bacterial cells tagged with fluorescent markers in water samples. Computational analysis was able to rapidly and accurately extract numerical E. Coli concentrations similar to expected results. Preliminary findings proved successful, establishing the feasibility of microfluidics in evaluating water contamination.