COMMENSAL BACTERIA DETECTION USING A LOLLIPOP-BASED MICROFLUIDIC DEVICE

Abstract

In our previous work, we introduced CandyCollect, a lollipop-inspired collection device that enables at-home collection of saliva samples for the detection of Streptococcus pyogenes for strep throat diagnosis. To demonstrate that CandyCollect can be used to collect the human salivary bacteria, we present that (1) CandyCollect can capture the salivary commensal bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus mutans that are found in healthy individuals and (2) bacteria adsorbed to a CandyCollect can be eluted from the device for downstream analysis. We further compared the feedback from healthy participants for their experiences with using CandyCollect and two other commercial saliva collection methods.