A device to improve milk safety and quality is being developed by Lassonde researchers.
Professor Pouya Rezai from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Centres of Excellence for a project that aims to develop a portable biosensor for detection of microbial pathogens in milk and dairy products. Rezai will be working in partnership with Dairy Quality Inc. on the project.
The academic and industrial team are working to bring this technology to market in 2018.
The biosensor will be able to separate different phases of a high-volume milk sample in order to enhance the sensitivity of the detection process. It will also be simple enough to be used by the farmers to evaluate the quality of their raw milk samples.
“With this technology, an off-site process that currently takes three to four days can be performed on a farm in a few hours,” says Rezai.
This technology has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of detection. It will provide farmers with the information they need to take immediate corrective action to save their animals and products.
Rezai’s research explores the development of microfluidics, mechanical systems for applications in medicine and point-of-care diagnostics, biology, environmental sciences and extreme environments. He is also the creator of the Advanced Center for μfluidics Technology and Engineering (ACμTE).