ECL-FARM

Project Info

There are no quantitative electronic diagnostic devices for early and rapid detection of infectious animal diseases on-farm. ECL-FARM proposes the development of a highly novel sensor technology, i.e., a coreactant-free, on-chip electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensing technology to deliver a simple-to-use, portable, rapid and multiplexed detection system for disease detection on-farm. In this project, Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD), a worldwide disease with severe financial and welfare implications for the beef and dairy industries, is selected to demonstrate the efficacy of reagent-less ECL detection on-farm. Current lateral flow tests for BVD typically rely on a single target, either virus or antibody (not both), within an individual test sample.

ECL-FARM will use the complementary and distinct skillsets of the team to achieve three key project objectives: 1) development of on-chip ECL at nanoelectrode arrays to provide a sensitive coreactant-free solid-state ECL system suitable for reagent-less on-farm disease diagnosis; 2) implementation of multiplexed ECL competitive off-on mode immunoassays of BVD virus and antibodies – multimodal diagnosis with very low detection limits; and 3) benchmarking and demonstration of a fully integrated phone-based ECL device for on-farm testing of serum (existing samples) and milk samples – a farm-friendly application.

The sensor format will be adaptable, offering potential application in other animal and human diseases in the future, and will be scalable to facilitate inclusion of additional assays for diseases associated with other viral, parasitic or bacterial pathogens. Researchers involved in this project have the opportunity to become independent leaders in the field of smart nano-ECL devices for point-of-care diagnostic applications.