Development and Evaluation of Magnetic Liquids as an Emerging Foodborne Pathogen Concentration Tool

Rapid, portable detection of foodborne viruses is essential for their control. Although a number of promising portable technologies exist for downstream detection of foodborne viruses, their utilization in-field and at point of service is limited by the need for upstream concentration and purification techniques that are often time-consuming and not portable. Magnetic liquids are a diverse class of stable hydrophobic liquids with magnetic properties that have shown promise for concentration and detection of a number of biological targets, but have not been evaluated for foodborne viruses.The overall objective of the proposed work is to evaluate the ability of magnetic liquids to capture and concentrate viruses from foods and the environment, as well as develop and evaluate ligand-modified MILs for the same purpose. The ultimate goal of the work is to develop magnetic liquid-based reagents to serve for realistic, portable concentration of foodborne viruses (and other foodborne pathogens) that enables rapid detection of viruses in foods and the environment in food production and service settings.The specific objectives of the proposed work are:Objective 1: Develop and evaluate the ability of different magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) to capture and concentrate foodborne viruses (norovirus, hepatitis A virus) from food and environmental samples prior to detection. In this objective, we will evaluate the ability of different formulations of different types of magnetic ionic liquids (MILs; Co, Ni, Dy) to capture foodborne viruses (norovirus, hepatitis A virus) from buffer and relevant food matrices (leafy greens and berries).Objective 2: Develop and evaluate the ability of different deep eutectic solvents (DESs) to capture and concentrate foodborne viruses (norovirus, hepatitis A virus) from food and environmental samples prior to detection. In this objective, we will evaluate the ability of different formulations of different types of deep eutectic solvents to capture foodborne viruses (norovirus, hepatitis A virus) from buffer and relevant food matrices (leafy greens and berries).Objective 3: Develop and evaluate the ability of ligand-modified magnetic ionic liquids (nucleic acid aptamer) to capture and concentrate noroviruses. In this objective, we will formulate the best performing MILs to be modified with norovirus-specific nucleic acid aptamers and peptides for specific capture and concentration of norovirus, as well as evaluate their potential as concentration reagents for these viruses in foods commonly implicated with foodborne virus transmission (leafy greens and berries).