Cranberry juice, often used to stave off urinary-tract infections caused by Escherichia coli, also keeps the bacteria from reducing a biosensor’s specificity, scientists report.
Past research had shown that cranberry juice fights the infections by stopping E. coli from adhering to human cells. Frances S. Ligler, Brandy Johnson-White, and their colleagues at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., tested whether the juice would also prevent the bacteria from attaching to biosensors’ glass surfaces.
On its surface, the sensor has a pattern of different antibodies that capture targets—proteins or microbes, for example—from food or clinical samples. A subsequent application of antibodies that have a fluorescent tag pinpoints the location of the target, revealing its identity.