The first aim of this research was to evaluate recently developed biosensors for their potential to detect chemical contaminants, chloramphenicol and/or nitrofuran metabolites and, overall their potential for the food industry in their present form, or with further development. The biosensors evaluated were the dotLab® system (Axela Inc., Toronto, Canada), SPRi-Lab+™ system (Horiba Scientific, Stanmore, UK) and Octet® RED96 system (ForteBio Inc., California, USA). All three were able to detect the chosen chemical contaminants in the form of either single- or multi-analyte detection, or both, with two systems, the SPRi-Lab+™ and Octet® RED96, achieving sensitivities equivalent to current minimum required performance limits. The ability to use crude matrices with the Octet® RED96 system, and the additional multiplexing features of both the SPRi-LabFM and Octet® RED96 systems, makes them prospective biosensors in their current form. Pending further development of the dotLab® system's multiplexing features this could be applicable to the dotLab® system also. The second aim of this research was to advance detection methods for two major foodborne pathogens, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes, by screening for and employing highly bacteria-specific phage. A novel phage display-derived peptide binder, Peptide MSal020417 with sequence NRPDSAQFWLHH, was identified which results suggest is a genus-specific anti-Salmonella antibody mimicking peptide. A novel phage display-derived phage clone was identified which results suggest is highly specific for L. monocytogenes. These highly specific pathogen binders could be employed in •1 any detection method that traditionally employs an antibody, with the aim to advance the speed and specificity of detection of these foodborne pathogens.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:602684 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Morton, Mary Josephine |
| Publisher | Queen's University Belfast |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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