Performing Department
Life and Physical Sciences
Non Technical Summary
In the event of vegetables and meat contamination with pathogens, a large number of people are affected in a short time due to the highly infectious nature of the pathogens. An effective way to avoid that is to screen the produce or meat before it supplied through the food chain. Also it is important to sample the food in grocery stores and analyze for contamination before food reaches the consumer. Currently available sensors need a technical workforce and are not feasible for day-to-day application. A simple, colorimetric sensor (observing the color change) will enable a simple readout so that any employee could sample food to detect the pathogen. Using our proposed project the average time for sensing will be significantly shortened; thus, these sensors can easily be used in any community worldwide. The nanosensor will have a huge impact on the economy. Indirectly, the utilization of these sensors in the food chain will play a major role in reducing hospital care costs and the length of hospital stay for patients; more importantly, use of such sensors can save lives. By developing a simple colorimetric sensor, the cost of sampling and analyzing is expected to be significantly lower than the costs of current methods, which in turn will have a positive impact on the economy.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
45%
Applied
45%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
The main goal of this project is to receive a short-term training by PI for learning new techniques to specifically increase the sensitivity of nanosensors in detecting biomolecules. It is collaborative arrangement to enhance Lincoln University's institutional capacity with the goal of leading to future research projects while strengthening the competitiveness of the collaborating investigators' research activities.Due to growing concern about outbreaks of food poisoning and the associated costs, there is always need for development of better sensors that can accurately detect dangerous, disease-causing pathogens. Food and water are the common targets of pathogen contaminations. It is crucial to ensure the safety of the food and water supplies using an accurate, simple, and fast-response device. Existing methods, such as "electronic noses" and "electronic tongues" require expensive equipment, are time consuming, and involve complicated analyses. There has been ongoing research in this area, especially towards developing simple and portable sensors to detect bacterial contamination.There are two main objectives for this proposed project: a) The PI to receive training on radioactive labeling of proteins with I-125 and mathematical modeling in the collaborator's laboratory in UCLA; b) Collaborative research of the two investigators at LU and UCLA to develop new techniques for pre-concentrating target molecules prior to detection with paper-based, point-of-need nanosensors.Agriculturalists and infectious disease specialists have emphasized the agricultural need of sensors for infectious diseases. Development of any technique that can improve the detection limit of currently available sensors is expected to create a huge impact in the infectious disease community. By careful variation of the markers, this platform can be used to detect various harmful pathogens.
Project Methods
Methods for objective 1: The host investigator's laboratory in UCLA has expertise in radioactively labeling proteins with iodine-125 (I-125) and performing experiments and mathematical modeling to obtain quantitative rate constants for binding and dissociation properties that can aid in the design of the nanosensor. The biomolecules will be radioactively labeled with I-125 using Na125I. The radiolabeled protein will then be purified from free iodine using a size-exclusion column. After conjugating the radioactively labeled biomolecules to the nanoparticles, the binding of the resulting complexes the nitrocellulose membrane will be investigated mathematically.Methods for objective 2: The host investigator's research group has shown that aqueous two-phase systems (ATPs) can be used to concentrate biomarkers such as viruses and proteins by at least 10-fold, and that the corresponding Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) detection limits improved by 10-fold. They then demonstrated the feasibility of performing both steps - concentration and detection - within a single system by incorporating ATPS components onto distinct regions of the LFA paper. In the first Phase of the project the two investigators will determine the compatibility of different ATPSs with vegetable, fruit, and meat matrices. In the second phase the investigators will develop the platform technology, which combines the ATPS with the spot test.