(Newswise) — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to kill deadly pathogenic bacteria in food handling and packaging.
Using nature as their inspiration, the researchers successfully attached cell lytic enzymes to food-safe silica nanoparticles, and created a coating (seen up close in this scanning electron micrograph image) with the demonstrated ability to selectively kill listeria — a dangerous foodborne bacteria that causes an estimated 500 deaths every year in the United States.(Photo: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI))
