The Lu’s Food Safety & Health Engineering Lab at McGill works on genomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics along with nanotechnology to investigate critical scientific questions in food science. We have interest in developing innovative and rapid sensing, instrumentation systems and detection methods for ensuring food safety as well as preventing food bioterrorism and fraud. We also apply molecular biology and genomic approaches to investigate stress response and pathogenesis of microorganisms that post threats to agri-food system and public health. Recently, we have started the investigation of the interaction between food microbiota/components and gut microbiota.
Our current research is focused on six major directions:
(1) Developing nano-biosensor and nano-based single-molecule biophotonics coupled with various separation techniques to rapidly detect chemical and microbiological hazards in food systems
Keywords: microfluidics “lab-on-a-chip”, Raman spectroscopy, SERS, micro/nanofabrication, molecularly imprinted polymers, aptamer, (near & mid) infrared spectroscopy, label-free imaging, ELISA, immunochromatographic strip.
Selected recent publications:
1. Lu X., Samuelson D., Xu Y., Zhang H., Wang S., Rasco B.A., Xu J., Konkel M., 2013. Detecting and tracking nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus using a microfluidic SERS biosensor. Analytical Chemistry, 85, 2320-2327.
2. Lu X., Huang Q., Miller W.G., Aston D.E., Xu J., Xue F., Zhang H., Rasco B.A., Wang S., Konkel M.E., 2012. Comprehensive detection and discrimination of Campylobacter species by use of confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy and multilocus sequence typing. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 50, 2932-2946.
3. Gao F., Grant E., Lu X., 2015. Determination of histamine in canned tuna by molecularly imprinted polymers-surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Analytica Chimica Acta, 901, 68-75.
4. Feng J., Fuente-Núñez C., Trimble M., Xu J., Hancock R.E.W., Lu X., 2015. In-situ Raman spectroscopic-based microfluidic “lab-on-a-chip” platform for non-destructive and continuous characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. Chemical Communications, 51, 8966-8969.
(2) Campylobacter-associated food safety
Keywords: Campylobacter jejuni, virulence factor, biofilm, poultry, fresh produce.
Selected recent publications:
1. Feng J., Ma L., Nie J., Konkel M.E., Lu X., 2018. Environmental stress-induced bacterial lysis and extracellular DNA release contribute to Campylobacter jejuni biofilm formation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 84, e:02068-17.
2. Hakeem M., Feng J., Nilghaz A., Ma L., Seah K., Konkel M.E., Lu X., 2020. Active packaging of immobilized zinc oxide nanoparticles controls Campylobacter jejuni in raw chicken meat. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 86, e01195-20.
3. Ma L., Petersen M., Lu X., 2020. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Campylobacter using a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip device. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 86, e00096-20
4. Ma L., Chen L., Chou K.C., Lu X., 2021. Determination of antimicrobial resistance profiles and mechanisms of Campylobacter jejuni using a Raman spectroscopy-based metabolomic approach. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 87, e00388-21.
5. Ma L., Konkel M.E., Lu X., 2021. Antimicrobial-resistance gene transfer of Campylobacter jejuni in mono- and dual-species biofilms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 87, e00659-21.
(3) Food microbiology, including detection and molecular characterization of foodborne pathogens, evaluation of intervention technologies to reduce pathogens in food systems, investigation of the evolution of bacterial antibiotic resistance, assessment of bacterial biofilms, and study of bacterial response due to environmental stresses
Keywords: bacterial sub-lethal injury, antimicrobials, intervention strategy, transcriptome, PCR, DNA microarray, RNA-seq.
Selected recent publications:
1. Lu X., Samuelson D.R., Rasco B.A., Konkel M.E., 2012. Antimicrobial effect of diallyl sulphide on Campylobacter jejuni biofilms. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 67, 1915-1926.
2. Lu X., Rasco B.A., Jabal J.M.F., Aston D.E., Lin M., Konkel M.E., 2011. Investigating antibacterial mechanisms of garlic (Allium sativum) concentrate and garlic-derived organosulfur compounds on Campylobacter jejuni using FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and electron microscope. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77, 5257-5269.
3. Lu X., Rasco B.A., Kang D.-H., Jabal J.M.F., Aston D.E., Konkel M.E., 2011. Infrared and Raman spectroscopic studies of the antimicrobial mechanisms of garlic concentrates and diallyl constituents on foodborne pathogens. Analytical Chemistry, 83, 4137-4146.
4. Feng S., Eucker T.P., Konkel M.E., Lu X., Wang S., 2014. Investigating Cronobacter sakazakii responses to garlic-derived organosulfur compounds: a systematic study of pathogenic bacteria injury using high-throughput whole transcriptome sequencing and confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 80, 959-971.
5. Draz M.S., Lu X., 2016. Development of a loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) – surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) assay for the detection of Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis. Theranostics, 6, 522-532.
6. Ma L., Feng S., Fuente-Núñez C., Hancock R.E.W., Lu X., 2018. Development of molecularly imprinted polymers to block quorum sensing and inhibit bacterial biofilm formation. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 10, 18450-18457.
7. Han L., Wang K., Ma L., Delaquis P., Bach S., Feng J., Lu X., 2020. Rapid determination of viable but non-culturable Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica in fresh produce by loop-mediated isothermal amplification coupled with a propidium monoazide treatment. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 86, e02566-19.
(4) Interaction between food components/diet pattern and human gut, such as gut microbiome and gut diseases (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, gut wounds, and colorectal cancer)
Keywords: gut microbiome, inflammatory bowel disease, diet pattern, food digestion, human “gut-on-a-chip”, metagenomics, single cell characterization, gut biofilms
(5) Detection of food fraud and adulteration; identification of food mislabelling
Keywords: food adulteration, food fraud, food mislabelling, qPCR, DNA barcoding, imaging, NMR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, chemical & biological marker
Selected recent publications:
1. Hu Y., Feng S., Gao F., Li-Chan E.C.Y., Grant E., Lu X., 2015. Detection of melamine in milk using molecularly imprinted polymers-surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Food Chemistry, 176, 123-129.
2. Gao F., Hu Y., Chen D., Li-Chan E.C.Y., Grant E., Lu X., 2015. Determination of Sudan I in paprika powder by molecularly imprinted polymers-thin layer chromatography-surface enhanced Raman spectroscopic biosensor. Talanta, 143, 344-352.
3. Hu Y., Wang S., Wang S., Lu X., 2017. Application of 1H solution and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in food adulteration determination: the example of Sudan dye I in paprika powder. Scientific Reports, 7, 2637. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-02921-8
4. Hu Y., Zou L., Huang X., Lu X., 2017. Detection and quantification of offal content in ground beef using vibrational spectroscopic-based chemometric analysis. Scientific Reports, 7, 15162. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15389-3
5. Hu Y., Huang S., Hanner R., Levin J., Lu X., 2018. Study of fish products in Metro Vancouver using DNA barcoding methods reveals fraudulent labeling. Food Control, 94, 38-47.
6. Hu Y., Lu X., 2020. Rapid pomegranate juice authentication using a simple sample-to-answer hybrid paper/polymer-based lab-on-a-chip device. ACS Sensors, 5, 2168-2176.
(6) Intelligent food safety: application of artificial intelligence (e.g., deep machine learning), big data, and internet of things to improve the safety of our future food chain
Keywords: machine learning, AI, big data, IoT, smart food safety
Selected recent publications:
1. Yu Z., Jung D., Park S., Hu Y., Huang K., Rasco B.A., Wang S., Ronholm J., Lu X., Chen J., 2021. Smart traceability for food safety. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, In press. DOI: 10.1018/10408398.2020.1830262
2. Ma L., He W., Petersen M., Chou K.C., Lu X., 2021. Next-generation antimicrobial-resistance surveillance system based on internet-of-things and microfluidic technique. ACS Sensors, 6, 3477-3484.