Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research (IC&SR) , IIT Madras
A Fiber Optic Biosensor for Mycotoxin Detection in Food Samples
Technology Category/Market
Biosensors (Photonics)
Biotechnology – Food
Applications – Food safety and quality assurance
Market – The global food safety testing market size was valued at USD 21.1 B in 2022 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.1 % to reach USD 31.1 B by from 2027.
Targeted Industries
Watermarking IP design,
Electronic circuits
Problem Statement
- Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most abundant food-contaminating mycotoxins that is also a potential carcinogen and responsible for many diseases affecting humans.
- Studies have shown that OTA is a stable molecule that can withstand high temperatures, wide pH range, and most food processing conditions.
- Consequently, quantifying OTA detection using a sensing device is important to ensure high food standards and safety.
Technology
- This invention provides both a method and label-free, sensitive sensor device to selectively detect ultra-low concentrations of OTA in food samples.
- The invention is an OTA sensor using a sensing layer of OTA – specific antibodies (Ab) encapsulated in ZIF-8 matrix (Ab@ZIF-8), and AuNPs mediated plasmonic transduction properties on a compact U-bent optical fiber platform.
- The composite solution is a mixture of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) and polyclonal antibody, which was used functionalize the U-bent fiber optic sensor probe to specifically and selectively detect OTA in grape juice.
- The contemporary label-free approach, combining U-bent optical fiber configuration, LSPR and antibody-encapsulated ZIF-8, enhanced the performance of the sensor system to achieve a detection limit in the range of 1.3 fg/ml.
Key Features/Value Proposition
- The invention is a dip type, portable, field deployable, rapid fiber optic sensor for small molecule analyte detection which include e.g. drugs, VOCs, carcinogenic dyes in food samples.
- Using the current method for fiber optic probe preparation, a sensor device employing a LED – photodetector setup can be developed for the on-field analysis of mycotoxins for rapid analysis.
- The OTA recoveries with the current sensor in commercial samples of coffee and beer were 86.4 – 107%.
Questions about this Technology?
Contact for Licensing
Research lab
Dr. Raghavendra Sai
Department of Applied Mechanics
Intellectual Property
- IN202141062168
- IITM IDF Ref. 2273
Technology Readiness Level
TRL – 4 / 5
Experimentally demonstrated at lab environment