Food Safety in the 21st Century: Rapid Toxin Detection in the Field

The over-arching goal of this project is to develop a portable, miniaturized, integrated, and field-deployable instrumentation platform based upon CANARY® technology that can be used to successfully detect the presence of bacterial toxins in food, specifically Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) type A. The new CANARY®-based system will enable testers in the field to identify target pathogens more rapidly and with greater ease of use, as well as broadly improve PathSensors' diagnostic services. The goal of this project will be achieved by successful completion of the following two objectives:Objective 1: Develop a rugged, portable, and autonomous diagnostic platform capable of being used in the field to detect bacterial toxins in foodObjective 2: Demonstrate functionality of new diagnostic platform in a laboratory setting and in field environment