SBIR Phase I: Advanced Mycotoxin Detection with Novel Photochemical Diagnostics

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是改善可持续粮食生产。霉菌毒素是在谷物中发现的常见污染物，可以跟踪饲料生产，最终毒死家畜。这些中毒事件表现为人类食品供应链中的浪费和低效。食用受污染饲料的动物生长更慢，产奶/蛋更少，更容易感染疾病，等等。这相当于农民失去利润，消费者失去食物，以及对长期粮食安全的担忧。该SBIR第一阶段项目通过检测这些毒素来解决这一挑战。这项技术在源点诊断领域提供了一种潜在的变革性新工具，同时满足了行业需求。该毒素检测系统将更快、更简单、更通用。拟议的项目将推进新一代真菌毒素检测技术。这项技术使用了新的化合物，旨在与感兴趣的特定真菌毒素结合，以实现可靠的定量检测。这些检测器化合物通过改变毒素的光谱性质来运作，因此即使在动物饲料等复杂的生物混合物中也可以检测到毒素。本项目研究了萃取缓冲液的组成和检测器化合物的设计。通过表征不同激发条件下的光谱特征，将优化缓冲液和检测器化合物的组合。这项研究计划将针对与行业最相关的两类真菌毒素。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is improved sustainable food production. Mycotoxins are common contaminants found in cereal grains that can track through feed production and ultimately poison livestock animals. These poisoning events manifest as waste and inefficiency within human food supply chains. Animals consuming contaminated feed grow more slowly, produce less milk/eggs, are more susceptible to disease, etc. This equates to lost profits for the famers, lost meals for the consumer, and concerns over long-term food security. This SBIR Phase I project addresses this challenge through detection of these toxins. This technique offers a potentially transformative new tool in the field of point-of-source diagnostics, while simultaneously addressing the needs of the industry. This toxin detection system will be faster, simpler, and more versatile.The proposed project advances a new generation of mycotoxin detection technologies. This technique employs novel compounds designed to associate with a specific mycotoxin of interest to enable reliable quantitative detection. These detector compounds operate by changing the spectroscopic properties of the toxin, such that it can be detected even in complex biological mixtures like animal feed. The project investigates the extraction buffer composition and the detector compound design. The buffer and detector compound combinations will be optimized by characterizing the spectroscopic signatures under different excitation conditions. This research program will target the two key classes of mycotoxins most relevant to industry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.