In a world increasingly shaped by global health threats, food insecurity, and the urgent need for sustainable agriculture, one Michigan State University (MSU) researcher is quietly leading a diagnostic revolution. Dr. Evangelyn “Vangie” Alocilja, a professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, has developed a suite of Simple, Mobile, Affordable, Rapid, and Transparent (SMART) biosensors that promise to transform how we detect pathogens in food, water, and even the human body.
Her innovation is more than a scientific breakthrough. It’s a story of global collaboration, grassroots impact, and the power of university research to change lives.
The Innovation: A Two-Step, Field-Ready Diagnostic System
At the heart of Dr. Alocilja’s technology is a two-step process that combines magnetic and gold nanoparticles to detect pathogens quickly and affordably, without the need for expensive lab equipment or trained technicians.
The first step involves the use of magnetic nanoparticles coated with glycans. These glycans bind to a wide range of bacteria through glycan-lectin interactions. When added to a sample—whether it’s water, meat, vegetables, or even sputum—the particles latch onto pathogens and can be magnetically separated.
“They become magnetic only in the presence of a magnetic field,” explains Alocilja. “So, you can add them to a sample, let them bind to the bacteria, and then use a magnet to pull them out, along with the pathogens.”
This process takes just 5 to 10 minutes and removes interfering substances, such as enzymes or pH variations, which could affect downstream detection. Traditional methods can take 48 to 72 hours to isolate bacteria. Alocilja’s method does it in minutes.
Once the pathogens are isolated, gold nanoparticles functionalized with DNA probes target specific genes of interest, such as those of Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and others. The result is a visible color change.
“If it’s red, it’s positive. If it’s blue, it’s negative,” says Alocilja. “You don’t need a lab. You don’t even need a technician. Just your eyes—or a smartphone app.”
This simplicity is what makes the technology so powerful. It’s low-cost, portable, and doesn’t require electricity or refrigeration, making it ideal for use in remote areas, such as farms or food processing plants, or in developing countries.
Why Speed Matters: Real-Time Decision Making
In food processing facilities, rapid detection can mean the difference between shipping fresh, high-value products or freezing them at a loss.
“Processors need to know if their product is clean before it leaves the facility,” says Alocilja. “If they wait for lab results, they’re adding cost and losing value.”
The same applies to sanitation. Facilities need to verify that their equipment is clean before switching production lines. With traditional methods, they might wait a day or more for results. With Alocilja’s biosensors, they can know in under four hours.
This speed also has implications for public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, many patients were treated with antibiotics before a diagnosis was confirmed, contributing to the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
“If diagnostics take a week, doctors often prescribe antibiotics just in case,” she says. “But if we can detect the pathogen quickly, we can avoid unnecessary treatments.”
A Platform Technology with Global Reach
What makes Alocilja’s biosensors truly revolutionary is their versatility. The same platform can be adapted to detect a wide range of pathogens just by changing the DNA probe.
Her team has already developed sensors for diseases such as Tuberculosis, COVID-19, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, as well as African swine fever and avian influenza. Similarly, Alocilja’s biosensors are capable of detecting pathogens in the food and water supply, including Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, Campylobacter, Vibrio, and Klebsiella, among others.
“It’s a platform technology,” she says. “We don’t have to start from scratch each time. We just change the probe.”
This adaptability makes the technology ideal for global deployment, especially in regions where access to centralized labs is limited.
From Research to Real-World Impact: MSU’s Role
The MSU Innovation Center plays a critical role in moving technologies like Alocilja’s from the lab to the marketplace. Through MSU Technologies, Business Connect, and Spartan Innovations, the Innovation Center supports faculty inventors at every stage of the commercialization journey, including providing access to crucial translational funding to fund early-stage development and prototyping.
“Translational funding programs are absolutely critical for bridging the gap between academic discovery and real-world application,” says Jon Debling, Technology Manager at MSU Technologies. “They provide the resources and structure needed to de-risk early-stage technologies, validate their potential, and make them attractive to industry partners. Without this kind of support, many promising innovations would never make it out of the lab.”
Dr. Alocilja’s biosensor technology has received support from several MSU translational funding programs, including the Tech-Dev grant (TD) and MTRAC, which is co-funded by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) through the Michigan Strategic Fund.
“These programs are essential,” says Alocilja. “They help us de-risk the technology so that companies are more willing to invest.”
“We’ve had interest from partners in Europe and Asia,” says Debling. “Now we’re looking for U.S.-based companies to license the technology and scale production.”
The goal is to find partners who can manufacture, distribute, and support the technology at scale—whether for food safety, public health, or environmental monitoring.
Looking Ahead: Scaling for Global Impact
Dr. Alocilja has built long-standing collaborations with researchers at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and De La Salle University, focusing on both plant and human health diagnostics. Their joint efforts include developing biosensors for detecting diseases in cacao and bananas, two of the Philippines’ most vital export crops. These partnerships are essential to the success of the technology.
“These partners bring critical knowledge,” Alocilja explains. “They understand the matrix—the environment, the industry, the pathogens. We can’t develop effective diagnostics without that local insight.”
This summer, her team at MSU will begin field testing the biosensors in U.S. food processing facilities. At the same time, her collaborators in the Philippines are preparing for similar trials on farms and in rural clinics. These real-world deployments are crucial for evaluating how the technology performs outside the controlled conditions of the laboratory, where variables such as heat, humidity, and dust can influence the results.
“The lab is 21 degrees Celsius all year round,” she says. “But the field is not.”
With promising results from the lab and early field trials, the next step is scaling the technology for broader use. That includes both manufacturing and market adoption. The MSU Innovation Center is actively working to identify industry partners who can help scale the technology.
“We’re actively seeking corporate partners,” says Jon Debling, Technology Manager at MSU Technologies. “Companies that see the value in rapid, low-cost diagnostics and want to bring this technology to market.”
The potential applications for Dr. Alocilja’s SMART biosensor technology are extensive and span multiple sectors. In the realm of food safety, the sensors can be used for on-site testing in processing plants, farms, and markets to ensure products are free from harmful pathogens before reaching consumers. In public health, they offer a rapid and accessible method for screening infectious diseases in clinics and community settings, particularly in areas with limited laboratory infrastructure. The technology also holds promise for environmental monitoring, enabling quick assessments of water quality in remote locations or regions affected by natural disasters. Additionally, in veterinary medicine, the biosensors can facilitate early detection of diseases in livestock and poultry, helping to prevent outbreaks and protect animal health.
The Power of MSU Innovation
This story is more than a scientific breakthrough. It’s a testament to the power of university research to solve real-world problems. It’s about how the MSU Innovation Center supports faculty innovations from the lab bench to the marketplace.
It’s about impact.
For Dr. Alocilja, the work is personal. “My philosophy is simple,” she says. “If it can save even just one life someday, it’s worth it.”
“One life is worth the effort; one life is worth saving,” she says. “That’s what keeps me going. That’s why I do this.”
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About the MSU Innovation Center:
The MSU Innovation Center combines research partnerships, technology transfer, and startup support to help MSU faculty bring their research to life, making the world a better place.
Comprising Business Connect, MSU Technologies, and Spartan Innovations, the MSU Innovation Center seeks to amplify the impact of faculty research and drive economic growth, while positively impacting society to address real-world challenges with cutting-edge ideas.
Through mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships with the private sector, we connect MSU faculty with companies for corporate-sponsored research collaborations. We also play a key role in facilitating the commercialization and public use of technologies and copyrightable materials, moving MSU’s innovations from the lab to the marketplace. Importantly, we provide significant support for faculty entrepreneurs in establishing startup companies based on technologies developed at MSU.
For more information, visit: innovationcenter.msu.edu