Microsphere breakthrough means safer food

Screening chicken and other foods for bacteria will in future be faster and more effective thanks to breakthrough nanobiotechnology research.

Scientists from the University of Queensland (UQ) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) have developed new technology that enables DNA amplification on ‘microspheres’ to rapidly detect and identify large numbers of different bacteria at the same time.

Authorities estimate that there are around 5.4 million cases of foodborne gastroenteritis in Australia every year. Of these cases, around 200,000 are associated with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli.

“We hope to use this new technology to be able to detect and type C. jejuni/coli,” said Professor Ross Barnard, Director of the Biotechnology Program at UQ’s School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences.

“These quick-identification techniques can underpin relevant and sustainable programs to further improve food safety.The infectious dose for C. jejuni/coli can be very low - around 500 organisms. This means that sensitive, specific and rapid techniques are particularly important for this organism.”

While testing methods do exist, they are generally slow and not highly effective, Barnard said, so many scientists have turned their focus to leveraging existing ‘microsphere’ technology to a new level.

“After five years, we are now able to extend and develop the platform in ways that haven't been done before,” Professor Barnard said.

“We will now be able to carry out many typing reactions at once by doing a very large number of DNA amplification reactions at the same time on the surface of the microspheres.”

The discovery is the result of five years’ intensive research. The continuing research will be sponsored by the Poultry Cooperative Research Centre and carried out by UQ PhD student Liang Fang, alongside Dr Pat Blackall of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation and DAFF’s Jillian Templeton.

“This is just the beginning. Because this testing is based on a platform technology, it can be applied in many different ways such as mutation screening in plant, animal and human genomes, as well as for applications in the realm of infectious diseases,” said Professor Barnard.

The discovery was featured on the front cover of Analytical Biochemistry and the researchers have been invited to present the work at the Luminex International Diagnostics Forum in Monaco.