An official website of the United States government.
We propose to adapt the portable, multi-analyte biosensor, known as the Array Biosensor, to detect up to five mycotoxins (fumonisin B, aflatoxins BI and Ml, ochratoxin and deoxynivalenol) in spiked and naturally contaminated homogenates of human and animal foodstuffs.
The approach will include four main steps: (1)develop the capability of the Array Biosensor to detect up to five different mycotoxins (fumonisin B, aflatoxin Bi, aflatoxin Ml, ochratoxin and deoxynivalenol)individually in competitive immunoassays, (2) optimize assay conditions in order to run the six assays simultaneously on individual buffer samples, (3) spike appropriate foodstuffs with different concentrations of mycotoxins and determine the detection limits in crude or cleaned up homogenates, and (4) analyze blind samples containing naturally contaminated samples, supplied by Dr. Chris Maragos at Mycotoxin Research Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Peoria, IL in the Array Biosensor for the presence of mycotoxins. Dr. Maragos will perform the confirmatory tests.
<p>
While mycotoxin contamination of feed has been documented to cause serious animal health problems and epidemiological studies have linked aflatoxins to primary liver cancer, the full effect on humans who consume contaminated foods has not been determined. To avoid exposure of both animals and humans to contaminated food supplies, a simple, effective method for measuring mycotoxins in foodstuffs must be developed. Ideally, such an analytical system would require minimal sample preparation, be very simple to use (i.e. automated), be portable and rugged enough for on-site measurements. As increasing numbers of mycotoxins are identified, the system should be able to analyze each sample simultaneously for an ever increasing number of toxins. We propose to adapt a portable, multi-analyte biosensor, known as the Array Biosensor, to detect mycotoxins contaminating homogenates of human and animal foodstuffs. The approach will include developing the capability of the Array Biosensor to detect up to five different mycotoxins (fumonisin B, aflatoxins Bi and Ml, ochratoxin and deoxynivalenol)individually, optimizing assay conditions in order to run the six assays simultaneously on individual buffer samples, spiking appropriate foodstuffs with different concentrations of mycotoxins and determining the detection limits in crude or cleaned up homogenates, and analyzing blind samples including naturally contaminated samples, supplied by Dr. Chris Maragos at Mycotoxin Research Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Peoria, IL. Dr. Maragos will perform the confirmatory tests.