November 10, 2010 — To keep soldiers in the battlefield healthy, the U.S. Army is exploring new ways to detect harmful bacteria in water.
Current techniques for analyzing water in the field can take as long as 24 hours to complete, according to Bart Lipkens of Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts and his colleagues at Physical Sciences in Andover, Ma.
They are working on an alternative technology that uses sound waves to accelerate the process.
“The goal of our project is to speed up the detection of bacteria in water supplies,” said Lipkens. “We’re developing a first order trigger, an alarm that maybe there’s something in the water that warrants further investigation.”
Lipkens has created a device that quickly gathers bacterial spores from running water using acoustical radiation force. It broadcasts waves of ultrasound into the liquid, exerting a pressure on the bacteria that pushes it into a collection pocket. In previous work, Lipkens used this technique to successfully separate polystyrene beads from water.
The device can draw in 15 percent of the bacterial cells from the water in a single pass. When the flow is shut off, the bacteria settle and can then be transferred to another apparatus for identification. Compared to existing methods, this procedure is quick.
Bacillus cereus, the species of bacteria used in this experiment, is about a micron in diameter and harmless. But its properties are very similar to many types of bacteria that would be harmful in drinking water.
“We think we would ultimately get the same results with harmful bacteria,” said Lipkens, who will present his data at the 2nd Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics in Cancun, Mexico.
The talk “Separation of bacterial spores from flowing water in macroscale cavities by ultrasonic standing waves” by Bart Lipkens will be presented at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, November 16.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2ND PAN-AMERICAN/IBERIAN MEETING ON ACOUSTICS
The 2nd Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics takes place at the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Hotel in Cancun, Mexico, Monday through Friday, November 15-19, 2010. The Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach Hotel is located at Blvd. Kukulcán km. 9.5, Cancún Hotel Zone, Cancún, Q.R., 77500. The hotel’s main numbers are +52 (998) 881 32 00 and, toll-free, 1-888-830-9008.
USEFUL LINKS
- Main meeting website: http://asa.aip.org/cancun/cancun.html
- Full meeting program: http://asa.aip.org/cancun/program.html
- Searchable index: http://asa.aip.org/asasearch.html
- Hotel site:
http://www.fiestamericanagrand.com/portal/p/es_MX/FAG/FCB/1/0/Availability/showMinisitioM2.do?showContenido=/descripcionhotel/FCBdescripcionhotel_M2.html&idioma=en_MX
WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOM
ASA’s World Wide Press Room (www.acoustics.org/press) contains tips on dozens of newsworthy stories and with lay-language papers, which are 300-1200 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience and accompanied by photos, audio and video.
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We will grant free registration to credentialed full-time journalists and professional freelance journalists working on assignment for major news outlets. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, please contact Jason Bardi ([email protected], 301-209-3091), who can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.
ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,500 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America — the world’s leading journal on acoustics — Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at: http://asa.aip.org
