Objective
This project is aimed at a better understanding, diagnosis and treatment orientation of allergy, a disease undergoing explosive and worrisome progress.The current methods for allergy diagnosis, based on incubation of patient and apos;s serum with a few all ergenic extracts, are quite insufficient for understanding and following the detailed molecular picture of the patient and apos;s allergy, in particular for complex food allergy cases. A more elaborate test should be used, in which any kind of food to be t ested for its potential allergenicity should be submitted to an analytical separation and screened for its content in allergens.The project proposes the development of a new miniature and automated multicriteria platform for separating allergens from food. The new Unit here proposed is a modern alternative to the conventional 2-D gel techniques. An and quot;Allergy Card and quot;, a simple chip able to separate complex protein analytes such as food extracts, will be developed. It will be based on two compl ementary electrophoresis principles, first by Capillary Iso-electric-Focusing (cIEF) into an ordered stack of proteins separated according of their respective charge or iso-electric points. Then these proteins will be further separated in a Carrier Ampholy te Based Capillary Electrophoresis (CABCE). A fully innovative immunodetection step will be applied at the end of the two successive electrophoretic separations.Thus besides strong innovation in the methodology of protein separation, the project proposes a radical enhancement in the power of allergen screening, with a considerable potential for research, diagnosis and treatment follow-up allergy.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
FP6-2004-MOBILITY-5
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
SCF - Marie Curie actions-Series of eventsCoordinator
MILANO
Italy