Prototype Development for Detection of Wine and Beer Spoilage Yeasts
Principal Investigator: Laurie Connell (Marine Sciences, UMaine)
Partners: Rosemary Smith (Electrical Engineering, UMaine); Jason Perkins (Allagash Brewing)
Abstract: The goal of this project is to develop a new handheld instrument, called the InstaProbe, which will provide the only near-instantaneous solution to detect certain environmental microbes from a complex matrix with minimal sample preparation. The proposed instrument is based on prior art developed at UMaine as part of Federally funded research focused on detecting harmful marine algal blooms, known as red tide. For this project, the target application will be the rapid detection of spoilage organisms during wine or beer production, and will involve collaborations with the Allagash Brewing Company for product testing.