Orvion, a sister company of Logisticon, has developed a new technology called “Udetect”. This technology quantifies the amount of micro-organisms in water on-site within 2 hours. Udetect can easily be performed by operators or samplers, without the need of a laboratory. Udetect can be used by water managers, operators of waste-and-drinking water purification and cooling systems. The technology works with qPCR and measures specific DNA or RNA of micro-organisms. This makes it possible to precisely measure the occurrence of for instance bacteria such as E.coli, Legionella pneumophila or Leptospira.

The measurement is performed in three simple steps, the filtration, isolation and quantification step.  The filtration step takes about 10 minutes and prepares the sample for further analysis. A small amount of water (100 to 300 ml) is filtered in which and the micro-organisms are captured. In the second isolation step, the DNA/RNA in the sample is isolated within 15 minutes. In the final step, the DNA/RNA is quantified in a mobile qPCR machine to determine the amount of micro-organisms in the sample and takes about 1,5 hours. Several species can be quantified simultaneously in one sample.

Udetect not only quantifies the presence of organisms based on DNA. But also the bacteriological activity with RNA. The method is suitable for measuring Legionella (pneumophila and serotype 1) in drinking water. Or E.coli and cyanobacteria in surface and swimming water. Measurement of RNA viruses in wastewater, such as COVID-19, is currently under development. The results of a project in Kenya are expected at the end of March.

Visit www.udetect.nl or contact Paul Appeldoorn from Orvion for more information.