Objective
Due to wide application of herbicides in agriculture a task of their control in environment and food product became to be extremely important nowadays. The main demands for modern analytical techniques are their specificity, sensitivity and rapidity.
In frame of the project new immunoanalytical techniques will be proposed for express immunodetection of pesticides from two chemical classes - chlorinated phenols (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic, 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic, and 2-chloro-4-methylphenoxyacetic acids) and derivatives of s-triazine (simazine, propazine, and atrazine). Two approaches will be used in these assays.
The first one is based on measurement of ultrasonic waves spreading in the solution of immunoreactants. Techniques of direct monitoring of the immune binding and indirect ones (with the use of enzyme labels and enzyme-loaded liposomes) will be characterised. An original portable device for sensitive measurements of ultrasonic velocity and absorption in submicroliter volumes of liquids will be used for these analyses. Different pairs of enzymes and substrates will be compared in connection with their applicability for the acoustic immunoassay.
The second approach employs a microformat assay of the immune complex immobilised on a thick-film glass slide with chemiluminescent detection. Use of a charge-coupled camera in this assay permits integration of fluctuating fluorescent signal over time, thus increasing sensitivity of the measurements.
The proposed new techniques will permit rapid and sensitive monitoring of pesticide pollution. As a last step of the project, the developed techniques will be applied to testing of different environmental samples (water, soil) and agricultural products. Main metrological parameters of the assays, such as their sensitivity, duration, accuracy, precision, reproducibility, will be determined. Methodological guide for pesticides detection by the proposed techniques will be prepared.
Criteria of the project successful solving will be the development of new immunoanalytical systems for pesticides detection with the following properties: working range of detection - 0.1-0.5ng/mL assay duration - 10-15 min for field tests and no more that 1 h for stationary studies, revealing of no less that 90% of pesticide molecules in water, soil, and food samples.
The developed approaches will have significance for rapid diagnostics of not only different pesticides, but other biologically active compounds as well.
Call for proposal
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221 00 Lund
Sweden