A silicon microcantilever sensor was developed for the detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7. The microcantilever was modified by anti-E. coli O157:H7 antibodies on the silicon surface of the cantilever. When the aquaria E. coli O157:H7 positive sample is injected into the fluid cell where the microcantilever is held, the microcantilever bends upon the recognition of the E. coli O157:H7 antigen...

Anaerobic digestion of animal manure in biogas digesters has shown promise as a technology in reducing the microbial load to safe and recommended levels. We sought to treat dairy manure obtained from the Fort Hare Dairy Farm by investigating the survival rates of bacterial pathogens, through a total viable plate count method, before, during and after mesophilic anaerobic digestion. Different mi...

Two-layer metallic sheets have wide applications in aerospace, marine, automotive and domestic industries due to their superlative characteristics. In this paper, the formability of two-layer sheet is investigated through analytical, experimental and numerical approaches. An analytical model is developed based on Marciniak-Kuczynski method associated Hill’s non-quadratic yield criterion. Formin...

We demonstrate a new sensitive biosensor for detection of vital fungal spores of Aspergillus niger. The biosensor is based on silicon microfabricated cantilever arrays operated in dynamic mode. The change in resonance frequency of the sensor is a function of mass binding to the cantilever surface. For specific A. niger spore immobilization on the cantilever, each cantilever was individually coa...

Food pathogens contaminate food products that allow their growth on the shelf and also under refrigerated conditions. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to lower the limit of detection (LOD) of the method used and to obtain the results within hours to few days. Biosensor methods exploit the available technologies to individuate and provide an approximate quantification of the bacteria presen...

The aim of current studies was to validate the direct plating of a stool sample for Listeria monocytogenes detection, using selective medium Palcam agar with Palcam selective supplement. Validation was performed using stool samples collected from healthy humans inoculated with Listeria sp. strains. Stool samples were frozen to determine the influence of freezing on method robustness. The presen...

The need for rapid methods in order to precisely detect methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is extensively acknowledged. This study evaluated a quantitative real-time PCR assay targeting mecA (encoding high level resistance to methicillin) and femB (a specific genomic marker for S. aureus) genes to detect MRSA from broth culture, from serum seeded with MRSA and straight from the ...