Who We Are
NxLite was formed to commercialize patented LIBS technology developed by Applied Research Associates (www.ara.com). LIBS has used for years for elemental analysis, but ARA, using advanced software algorithms, has perfected techniques to detect complex chemical compounds and food pathogens (e. coli, salmonella, etc.) at far levels (0.01 ppm) than ever before.What if foods, food preparation surfaces, and water could be monitored in real time for biological and chemical contamination during the manufacturing process, while stored, and prior to shipment or use? What if the analysis required few consumables, was automated so very little operational training was required, and analysis results were returned in seconds to minutes? What if a single instrument could be used for multiple detection targets?
Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is a technology that has the potential to address the need for a rapid (seconds to minutes) and fairly comprehensive diagnostic for detection of pathogens in food products such as beef, poultry, milk, eggs and cheese as well as in the food manufacturing environment (e.g. to assess cleanliness).
In LIBS, laser pulses are focused in/on a sample to ablate and vaporize a small sample mass and excite the resulting atoms and simple molecules to emit light. Recent advances in data processing capabilities have lead to the successful application of chemometric data analysis methods to the LIBS spectrum to identify chemical compounds and pathogens on complex substrates. For these analyses the entire spectrum is treated as a "fingerprint" for the compound(s) or pathogen(s) of interest for the measurement conditions and samples included in the analysis.
Recent Examples
LIBS has been shown capable of successfully differentiating the six non-O157 Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in brain heart infusion growth media as well culture independent discrimination Salmonella typhimurium, generic E.coli, and Enterobacter cloacae in turkey chiller water. In addition, LIBS has been shown capable of differentiating live colonies and lyophilized pathogens including but not limited to S. aureus, A. baumanniii, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, B. subtilis and E.coli, Anthrax, and Tularemia. LIBS has also been used to differentiate Hanta Virus strains in samples on slides. NxLite is currently in the process of continuing its validation of the technology and obtaining certifications from FSIS and AOAC.