[Recruitment of Collaboration Partners Has Ended]We are seeking co-creation partners for the development of “rapid bacteria testing equipment using optical condensation system”
We are seeking co-creation partners for the development of “rapid bacteria testing equipment using optical condensation system” for quick and high-sensitivity microbiological testing.
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村田製作所
Fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, people are becoming increasingly concerned about sanitation and safety.

In the food industry, bacteria testing is conducted at various facets of food processing for the purposes of preventing food poisoning, managing food sanitation, evaluating quality and safety, assessing food standards and the like. At the same time, globalization is spurring active transport of people and goods all over the world, including export and import of food. Amidst this trend, improving the efficiency of testing for germs is becoming a very important issue.

In the medical industry and clinical examination field, it is necessary to promptly identify bacteria and viruses that cause sickness and nosocomial infections. Therefore, the development of a method of testing for germs in a short time and with high sensitivity is needed.

In order to resolve those issues, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (“Murata”) and Osaka Prefecture University jointly developed a high-efficiency, high-sensitivity bacteria testing system that employs optical condensation technology.

To expand practical applications of this bacteria testing system, Murata invites companies wishing to become our partners for the co-creation of optical condensation bacteria testing systems as an open innovation.

Culture test takes a long testing period

Conventionally, the culture test method has been used for bacteria testing, but this method takes about one to ten days to obtain the results. For example, determining the presence/absence of harmful germs like O157 in a food factory requires from several days to ten days. Bacteria testing conducted by a hospital or analysis laboratory for confirming an epidemic also takes several days to ten days. Therefore, reduction of the testing time is an important issue.

Advanced knowledge and skills are required

Bacteria testing using the culture method sometimes requires complex operations including medium preparation and sterilization treatment, so the test cannot be performed without the specialized knowledge or skills. To solve such issues, development of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA method) and method for determining the presence/absence of germs indirectly by detecting adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is a source of energy for living entities, is underway. However, there has been no means of inducing bacteria to the measuring site and detecting germs quickly with high sensitivity using compact equipment. Even if an optical tweezers system is used, it is difficult to quickly capture many cells since the optical tweezers’ detection range is about the same as the laser spot diameter of about several micrometers and such system is suitable for precision measurement of small numbers of cells.

Too large for easy transport

Conventional microbiological testing apparatuses have some disadvantages: they are large and cannot be transported easily to necessary places for roving testing. In the case of a small business site or store where large equipment cannot be used, it is necessary to outsource the testing to a third-party organization and it takes a long time to receive the test results.

Minato MIRAI Innovation Center, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Tsutomu Yamasaki, Hirohito Washida

The development of our optical condensation system was inspired by the press release on the research on optical condensation substrate announced by RILACS at Osaka Prefecture University. We had an opportunity to exchange opinions concerning the research for the development of an optical system with the aims of improving the efficiency of optical condensation detection of microorganisms and downsizing the devices.

The optical sensor technology cultivated by Murata could be utilized to downsize the optical condensation system’s optical lens for irradiating the laser beam efficiently to capture bacteria and the like, and this technology worked well with the world-leading, original optical condensation technology developed by RILACS at Osaka Prefecture University. Based on the notion that combining the knowledge of the two organizations would enable us to propose a totally new bio-detection method, we launched a joint research project. Leveraging the industry-academia knowledge collaboration, we jointly resolved issues toward the commercialization of a product with excellent convenience.

We’d like to deploy the optical condensation technology for the testing of food and medical equipment to further promote the application of our technology in the markets where it is needed. As consumers, we have a serious interest in food sanitation; however, we feel somewhat frustrated by the fact that when purchasing food in a store, we have to rely on the information provided by the store because we have no other means to check the safety of the food.

We hope that food producers/processors, pharmaceutical manufacturers and food/pharmaceutical analysis equipment makers will utilize the portable optical condensation system developed jointly by Murata and Osaka Prefecture University to solve their issues.