Development of lab on a chip for on-farm detection of sub-clinical ketosis

该项目将开发一种工具，使乳制品生产商能够以一种以前只能通过耗时的实验室分析来完成的方式监测农场上奶牛的健康状况。据估计，加拿大乳制品行业将从能够使用该技术更有效地检测和管理奶牛疾病中获得重大利益。该工具将被开发为“芯片实验室”，这是一种小型设备，可用于现场和真实的分析大型实验室仪器。这项新技术将用于测量牛奶和奶牛血液样本中一种名为BHBA的化学物质的水平。BHBA浓度的增加表明在任何外部症状可观察到之前奶牛的健康压力。这在产犊后的时期特别有用，因为奶牛容易受到感染和疾病。健康问题的早期发现允许生产者或兽医在动物死亡之前进行干预。 生产水平甚至生存都受到威胁。及时的干预不仅可以改善奶牛健康，还可以通过保持高牛奶产量来提高盈利能力。目前，进行此类测试需要生产商将样品送到实验室并等待结果。芯片实验室方法的优势在于允许在农场进行测试，优化便利性，同时提供即时结果。该项目将由圭尔夫大学生物纳米实验室首席研究员Suresh Neethirajan博士领导。Neethirajan和他的研究小组将与圭尔夫大学安大略兽医学院的研究人员合作。所申请的资金将为在加拿大和世界各地提供更好的奶畜健康管理解决方案提供一个框架。

This project will develop a tool that allows dairy producers to monitor cows' health on the farm in a way that was previously only accomplished by time-consuming lab analyses. It is estimated that the Canadian dairy industry will derive significant benefits from being able to use this technology to more efficiently detect and manage cow disease. The tool will be developed as a "lab-on-a-chip," a small device that can be used to perform the analysis of much larger laboratory instruments on location and in real time. This novel technology will be applied to measure the levels of a chemical called BHBA in milk and blood samples from cows. Increased concentrations of BHBA indicate health stress in cows well before any external symptoms are observable. This can be particularly useful in the period after calving when cows are vulnerable to infection and illness. Early detection of health issues allows the producer or veterinarian to intervene before the animals' production levels, or even survival, is threatened. Timely intervention not only improves cow health, but also increases profitability by maintaining high milk yields. Currently, conducting such tests would require the producer to send samples to a lab and wait for results. The lab-on-a-chip approach offers the advantage of allowing testing on the farm, optimizing convenience while offering immediate results. The project will be led by Dr. Suresh Neethirajan, principal investigator of the BioNano Laboratory, University of Guelph. Neethirajan and his research team will collaborate with researchers at the Ontario Veterinary College of the University of Guelph. The funding requested will provide a framework towards the delivery of improved dairy animal health management solutions in Canada and around the world.