Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SAFEMILK (Innovative technology for milk safety)
Période du rapport: 2023-05-01 au 2025-04-30
The SAFEMILK project is focused on the development of novel complex assay for evaluation of milk safety, which is important for dairy industry to assure required safety and quality of milk and dairy products. The complex biosensing assay will be focused on development of various methods for rapid and sensitive detection of bacterial pathogens and antibiotics that could occur in milk and represent potential hazard for health. Eight experienced academic/research institutions, two SMEs and one governmental business company from 3 EU member states (Slovakia, Hungary, Greece) and from 2 third countries (Canada and USA) are involved in the research, development and verification of assays for detection of bacterial pathogens and antibiotics in milk.
The SAFEMILK project opens excellent opportunities for enhancing innovations, improvement of skill and opening new career perspectives for early stage researchers (ESR). Moreover, closely related high-level research and their practical application thanks to involvement of two SMEs and one Business Company will provide additional opportunity to find job in the industry. SAFEMILK is highly innovative project. It combines excellent science in nanotechnology and novel experimental techniques with transfer of technology to milk industry. The unique method based on EMPAS developed by project partner from University of Toronto UTR will be transferred to Slovakia, Hungary and Greece milk industry in order to improve the safety of milk and milk products. We are expecting that the assays for detection of bacteria and antibiotics in milk will be optimized and commercialized by industrial partners involved in SAFEMILK project. Very important will be the transfer of knowledge from the TC partners to the EU academic institutions. This includes molecular engineering, nanofabrication and surface analysis as well as the development of new methods of detection bacteria and antibiotics at surfaces with antifouling properties. However, the transfer of knowledge and technology will not be limited only by the members of consortium, but will be widespread to the companies working in food industry, food quality and safety over the Europe. For this purpose, the project workshops and summer schools will be open for these partners.
The focus is on the application of surface acoustic, electrochemical and optical methods using nanofabricated surfaces with immobilized DNA aptamers for detection of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotics. The output of the project will be the development of novel analytical assays, staff exchange between academic institutions and SME, training of the students in novel analytical methods, and sensor development in world leading laboratories. The important result of the project is an optimized complex assay for efficient assessment of milk safety, which could be commercialized by the project industrial participants. The organization of training schools, workshops and transfer of novel technology will be among priorities of this project.
The SAFEMILK project opens excellent opportunities for enhancing innovations, improvement of skill and opening new career perspectives for early stage researchers (ESR). Moreover, closely related high-level research and their practical application thanks to involvement of two SMEs and one Business Company will provide additional opportunity to find job in the industry. SAFEMILK is highly innovative project. It combines excellent science in nanotechnology and novel experimental techniques with transfer of technology to milk industry. The unique method based on EMPAS developed by project partner from University of Toronto UTR will be transferred to Slovakia, Hungary and Greece milk industry in order to improve the safety of milk and milk products. We are expecting that the assays for detection of bacteria and antibiotics in milk will be optimized and commercialized by industrial partners involved in SAFEMILK project. Very important will be the transfer of knowledge from the TC partners to the EU academic institutions. This includes molecular engineering, nanofabrication and surface analysis as well as the development of new methods of detection bacteria and antibiotics at surfaces with antifouling properties. However, the transfer of knowledge and technology will not be limited only by the members of consortium, but will be widespread to the companies working in food industry, food quality and safety over the Europe. For this purpose, the project workshops and summer schools will be open for these partners.
The focus is on the application of surface acoustic, electrochemical and optical methods using nanofabricated surfaces with immobilized DNA aptamers for detection of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotics. The output of the project will be the development of novel analytical assays, staff exchange between academic institutions and SME, training of the students in novel analytical methods, and sensor development in world leading laboratories. The important result of the project is an optimized complex assay for efficient assessment of milk safety, which could be commercialized by the project industrial participants. The organization of training schools, workshops and transfer of novel technology will be among priorities of this project.
The SAFEMILK project has been focused on the development of innovative biosensor technology for fast, sensitive, and low-cost detection of milk contaminants such as antibiotics and bacterial pathogens. We succeeded in the development of the series of effective biosensor based on DNA aptamers for detection of antibiotics and bacterial pathogens in real, not diluted milk samples. This has been achieved thanks to the development of the special antifouling linkers as well as due to optimization of the DNA aptamer immobilization methods. Among the most sensitive aptasensors for bacterial detection those based on the acoustic methods using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) were rather effective due to direct bacteria detection without labelling. For detection of the antibiotics such as penicillin G, oxytetracycline and the kanamycin, the electrochemical and colorimetric detection were very effective. In most cases the determined limit of detection (LOD) was better than maximum residue limit (MRL) established by EU authorities. An important part of the project consisted in the development of the electronic apparatus based on the electromagnetic acoustic piezoelectric sensor principle (EMPAS). This has been achieved due to the close collaboration of the project partners PTEC, RCNS, UTR and CUB. The apparatus has been successfully validated in the CUB laboratory and demonstrated during the final project workshop organized by CUB on April 14, 2025. The results obtained were published in 33 papers in Open Access International Journals and in 4 papers in conference proceedings. The series of 4 focused workshops and 3 specialized summer schools were organized during the project time that includes also presentation of the project results on Open Doors Days as well as during Researchers Night Events. All project objectives were completed also thanks to extensive secondments. Most of the secondments planned have been successfully realized.
SAFEMILK has been a highly innovative project, it combined excellent science in nanotechnology and novel experimental techniques with transfer of technology to dairy industry.
The unique method based on electromagnetic piezoelectric acoustic sensor (EMPAS) developed by UTR partner and realized by CUB, PTEC in collaboration with RCNS allowed development of highly sensitive detection of bacterial pathogens in milk.
The novel approach of UTR in development of special linkers for preparation of the antifouling surfaces allowed for the first time develop biosensors for detection of bacterial pathogens in raw, not diluted milk with a high sensitivity.
Further exploitation and commercialization of SAFEMILK research results can lead to important impact to secure food chain from farm to fork and to contribute to an improved food safety in dairy industry.
The unique method based on electromagnetic piezoelectric acoustic sensor (EMPAS) developed by UTR partner and realized by CUB, PTEC in collaboration with RCNS allowed development of highly sensitive detection of bacterial pathogens in milk.
The novel approach of UTR in development of special linkers for preparation of the antifouling surfaces allowed for the first time develop biosensors for detection of bacterial pathogens in raw, not diluted milk with a high sensitivity.
Further exploitation and commercialization of SAFEMILK research results can lead to important impact to secure food chain from farm to fork and to contribute to an improved food safety in dairy industry.