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Summary

Luciferase, the "firefly" enzyme that glows in the presence of bacteria, may soon play a big role in making food and water safer worldwide. New Horizons Diagnostics, a Maryland research company, is working with Russian scientists to make a luciferase tester that will be faster and more efficient for dairy farmers and food processors. Standard microbiological methods can take 24-72 hours to detect the presence of harmful bacteria in cows milk. NHD and Russian scientists hope to cut that time down to four hours so that farmers can tell whether an individual cow is sick or if just its milk is contaminated.

Copyright status

This image is public domain because it was first published by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory | Operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy

Source

http://picturethis.pnl.gov/picturet.nsf/All/6B5PBX?opendocument