AQUASENSE | Development and evaluation of miniaturized biosensors for diagnosis of pathogens in aquaculture

Summary
The aquaculture industry is essential to meet the dietary needs of the growing world population and an important contributor to the European economy and to the people’s health and welfare. However, its expansion has been limited by the great variety of diseases that affect farmed species and cause great economic losses. There is an urgent need to find new methodologies that allow cost-effective and early-detection that can be easily applied in decentralized settings or points-of-care. The main goal of AQUASENSE is the development of a new biosensor for early molecular diagnosis of aquaculture pathogens and to evaluate the use of third generation sequencing to monitor potential reservoirs of pathogens. To perform this, the turbot aquaculture will be used as a study case. A miniaturized device based on microscale solid phase extraction (µSPE) and microfluidics will be developed and optimized to perform universal highly efficient DNA extraction and purification from aquaculture samples. Then this system will be integrated with a novel biosensing module, based on isothermal amplification and CRISPR/Cas system, to develop a micro total analysis system (µTAS) suitable for resource-limited analysis. This device will be evaluated for the detection of two of the most problematic pathogens in turbot. In parallel, a miniaturized nanopore sequencer will be used to monitor the microbiome present in the samples and the potential reservoirs of pathogens, with the aid of the universal highly efficient DNA extraction device. This technology will allow more targeted treatments and reduce mortality and the use of antibiotics, improving the profitability of the sector. These objectives fit with important goals included in the Farm to Fork European Strategy (European Green Deal), such as reduce dependency on antimicrobials, improve the knowledge about microbiome and reach a more sustainable aquaculture production, all of them aimed at achieving a robust and resilient food system.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101032845
Start date: 16-06-2022
End date: 15-06-2024
Total budget - Public funding: 147 815,04 Euro - 147 815,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

The aquaculture industry is essential to meet the dietary needs of the growing world population and an important contributor to the European economy and to the people’s health and welfare. However, its expansion has been limited by the great variety of diseases that affect farmed species and cause great economic losses. There is an urgent need to find new methodologies that allow cost-effective and early-detection that can be easily applied in decentralized settings or points-of-care. The main goal of AQUASENSE is the development of a new biosensor for early molecular diagnosis of aquaculture pathogens and to evaluate the use of third generation sequencing to monitor potential reservoirs of pathogens. To perform this, the turbot aquaculture will be used as a study case. A miniaturized device based on microscale solid phase extraction (µSPE) and microfluidics will be developed and optimized to perform universal highly efficient DNA extraction and purification from aquaculture samples. Then this system will be integrated with a novel biosensing module, based on isothermal amplification and CRISPR/Cas system, to develop a micro total analysis system (µTAS) suitable for resource-limited analysis. This device will be evaluated for the detection of two of the most problematic pathogens in turbot. In parallel, a miniaturized nanopore sequencer will be used to monitor the microbiome present in the samples and the potential reservoirs of pathogens, with the aid of the universal highly efficient DNA extraction device. This technology will allow more targeted treatments and reduce mortality and the use of antibiotics, improving the profitability of the sector. These objectives fit with important goals included in the Farm to Fork European Strategy (European Green Deal), such as reduce dependency on antimicrobials, improve the knowledge about microbiome and reach a more sustainable aquaculture production, all of them aimed at achieving a robust and resilient food system.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2020

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
MSCA-IF-2020 Individual Fellowships