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Atalanta: The autonomous analytical algal toxin platform

Maguire, Ivan, Fitzgerald, Jenny, Heery, Brendan orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-8610-5238, Murphy, Caroline, Nwankire, Charles, O'Kennedy, Richard, Ducrée, Jens orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-0366-1897 and Regan, Fiona orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-8273-9970 (2015) Atalanta: The autonomous analytical algal toxin platform. In: EuroAnalysis, 6 - 10 Sep 2015, Bordeaux, France.

Abstract
Cyclic peptide cyanobacterial toxins, in particular Microcystis aeruginosa, pose a serious health risk to humans and animals alike [1], [2]. Occurring mostly in fresh and brackish water, they have been identified to cause cancer promotion and liver damage [3]. Herein, we describe a portable, microfluidic-based system for in-situ detection of algal toxins in fresh water. The Atalanta system is a novel, portable and sample-to-answer platform for the detection of toxic cyanobacteria – Microcystin-LR in fresh water. Atalanta utilises the partnership of highly-specific recombinant chicken anti-microcystin antibodies, prepared in-house, with a 3D-printed ‘LASER-photo¬diode’ fluorescent detection method, also developed in-house. A competitive immunoassay format is utilised to detect free toxin. Furthermore, dissolvable-film (DF) based flow-actuation facilitates full assay inte¬gration. This new approach will form the basis of a cost efficient, USB-controlled water quality monitoring system. The Atalanta detection system consists of two components; the microfluidic Atalanta disc and the disc-holder. The Atalanta disc-holder was fabricated and assembled from a 3D-printed casing, with electronic components housed in device. The 5-layered microfluidic disc consists of five reservoirs, each with a separate venti¬lation, aligned radially with inter-connected microchannels. Each reservoir represents a functional assay step. First, microcystin conjugate is coated to the functionalised surface of the reservoir 3 prior to assembling the disc. A freshwater sample in reservoir 1 is pre-incubated with recombinant antibodies labelled with fluorophore (Alexa 647) in reservoir 2. This is then spun into reservoir 3 for detection through a competitive immunoassay using Microcystin-LR. Low fluorescence signal indicates high Microcystin-LR concentration in the sample.
Metadata
Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Event Type:Conference
Refereed:No
Uncontrolled Keywords:Microcystin; toxin detection;Microfluidics, Lab-On-A-Disc; LOAD, recombinant antibody technology; immunofluorescence detection; low cost diagnostic device
Subjects:Biological Sciences > Biotechnology
Biological Sciences > Microfluidics
Biological Sciences > Biosensors
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Chemical Sciences
DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Biotechnology
Research Institutes and Centres > Marine and Environmental Sensing Technology Hub (MESTECH)
DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Physical Sciences
Copyright Information:© 2015 The Authors
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
Funders:7th Framework Programme
ID Code:21913
Deposited On:15 Aug 2017 08:31 by Ivan Maguire . Last Modified 30 Sep 2019 08:31
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