title: Deformability Assessment of Waterborne Protozoa Using a Microfluidic-Enabled Force Microscopy Probe.
abstract: Many modern filtration technologies are incapable of the complete removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts from drinking-water. Consequently, Cryptosporidium-contaminated drinking-water supplies can severely implicate both water utilities and consumers. Existing methods for the detection of Cryptosporidium in drinking-water do not discern between non-pathogenic and pathogenic species, nor between viable and non-viable oocysts. Using FluidFM, a novel force spectroscopy method employing microchannelled cantilevers for single-cell level manipulation, we assessed the size and deformability properties of two species of Cryptosporidium that pose varying levels of risk to human health. A comparison of such characteristics demonstrated the ability of FluidFM to discern between Cryptosporidium muris and Cryptosporidium parvum with 86% efficiency, whilst using a measurement throughput which exceeded 50 discrete oocysts per hour. In addition, we measured the deformability properties for untreated and temperature-inactivated oocysts of the highly infective, human pathogenic C. parvum to assess whether deformability may be a marker of viability. Our results indicate that untreated and temperature-inactivated C. parvum oocysts had overlapping but significantly different deformability distributions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.affiliation: Nanoionics group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO BOX 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quist
authors.affiliation: Nanoionics group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO BOX 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: James R T
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Seddon
authors.affiliation: Nanoionics group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO BOX 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stanley C S
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Nanoionics group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO BOX 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Serge G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lemay
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Helen L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Bridle
mesh_terms: D003458:Cryptosporidium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000469:parasitology*; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D033661:Oocysts / Q000737:chemistry; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water