Chris Azar
Tony Rainsberger
 Every year thousands of people get sick from drinking water when
on vacation out of the country
 Vacations are ruined by symptoms which can include fever,
vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, bloating, and flatulence
among others
 Significant resources (time and money) are spent on medical
treatment for avoidable conditions
 Significant costs in the form of travel insurance payouts are
incurred as a of these infections
 What if you could tell immediately, BEFORE you drink the water in a
foreign country, if it is safe to drink?
 Could you know from day 1 of your vacation if you could drink tap
water or if you need to buy bottled water?
 Could you enjoy your vacation without guessing about the safety of
the water?
 Could you possibly avoid the significant cost of having to buy bottled
water or the considerably more significant cost of medical care?
 pGLO water tester will quickly tell you if the water you are about to
drink is contaminated with one, two, or all three of these common
pathogens which can make you sick:
 Giardia lamblia (a Protozoa which is the most common intestinal
parasite)
 Shigella dysenteriae (a bacterium which causes dysentery)
 Hepatitis A (a virus which infects the liver)
 All three of these pathogens produce antigens (unique proteins)
which are present in infected water
 pGLO Water Tester can detect and respond to each or any
combination of these antigens indicating if your water sample is
contaminated.
 The unique pGLO Water Test Plasmid is constructed to cause
the expression of three different colored fluorescent proteins
when exposed to the three different antigents as follows:
 Giardia lamblia will produce a yellow fluorescent protein
 Shigella dysenteriae will produce a red fluorescent protein
 Hepatitis A Virus will produce a blue fluorescent protein

Plasmid Components
◦ Beta-lactamase: provides
resistance to antibiotic
(Ampicilin)
◦ Antigen Receptor Genes –
turns on the expression of the
corresponding fluorescent
protein gene.
◦ Fluorescent Protein Gene –
expression of these genes
confirm the presence of any
combination of these three
pathogens
 If your water sample is contaminated, when you add pGLO Water
Tester to it and expose it to UV light, it will glow.
 The color that it glows will tell you what it is infected with according
to the following chart:
Contaminant(s)
Giardia
Shigella
Hepatitis A
Giardia & Shigella
Giardia & Hepatitis A
Shigella & Hepatitis A
All Three Pathogens
Color of H2O Under
UV Light
Yellow
Red
Blue
Orange
Green
Purple
Brown


Wider Range of
Pathogens
Sampling Systems
◦ Test Strips
◦ Air sampling
◦ Commercial
Treatment
 BioRad. (2012). pGLO Bacterial Transformation Kit. Retrieved from
BioRad: http://www.biorad.com/prd/en/US/adirect/biorad?cmd=BRCatgProductDetail&isFro
mSearch=true&entryPoint=adirect&catID=619b8f74-9d3f-4c2fa7958a27e67598b7&vertical=LSE&messageType=BRCatgProductDetail&p
arentCategoryGUID=f75948d2-dc20-4a32-b4e5-b7e0fe4c21ed
 CDC. (2009, November 16). Shigellosis. Retrieved from CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/shigellosis/
 CDC. (2011, March 8). Parasites - Giardia. Retrieved from CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/
 Pub Med. (2011, October 16). Hepatitis A. Retrieved from Pub Med
Health: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001323/