Portable Optical Biosensor for Multi-Analyte Detection in Dairy Farms with a One Health Perspective

FARM

Proposing Institution: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)

Name of the project’s Scientific Coordinator: Mario Prosa

E-mail address of the project’s Scientific Coordinator: mario.prosa@cnr.it

Other ECOSISTER partners involved in the project: MISTER Smart Innovation S.C.R.L. (MISTER), Università degli Studi di Parma (UNIPR), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC)

Coordinating Spoke: Spoke 1

Other Spokes involved in the project: Spoke 3, Spoke 5

Name of partners based in the South: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR): Institute of Nanostructured Materials (ISMN), Department of Chemistry, Research Area of Palermo (located in Messina); Institute of Nanotechnology (NANOTEC), Department of Physics, Research Area of Lecce.

Project duration (in months): 13

Starting TRL: 4

End TRL: 6

ATECO/industrial sector of potential reference: HUMAN HEALTH AND SOCIAL WORK ACTIVITIES

Smart Specialization Strategy: Agrifood

EU Taxonomy: Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem

Abstract

Microbial transfer between humans and the environment sets a close correlation and interdependency of human health, food production, animal and environmental sectors. Therefore, antibiotic resistance is a complex problem that requires a One Health approach, consisting of a solid and coordinated method that aims to achieve optimal and sustainable health outcomes for all ecosystems.

In this context, sensors are essential diagnostic tools for assessing food safety in a timely manner, controlling environmental quality, and monitoring animal wellbeing.

To enable the use of a single device in multiple yet interlinked real-life settings, the FARM project will develop a portable and multitarget optical biosensor for real-time, quantitative, on-site analysis in dairy farms. The FARM prototype will analyze milk and cow urine to ensure:

food safety and quality
animal welfare
environmental monitoring

This will be achieved by detecting antibiotic residues and analyzing the amount of bovine lactoferrin.

The realization of the FARM prototype relies on a miniaturized plasmonic sensor that has already been validated in a lab environment (TRL4) as reported in the ECOSISTER activities of Spoke 1. In the FARM project, a technological development of the optical sensor will be carried out to enable portability of the biosensor and to demonstrate functional operation in different ecosystems of the dairy farm, thus improving TRL up to 6.

Specifically, the sensing tool will be endowed with:

portable and low power consumption electronics
dedicated software to drive the prototype and read the output signal
a data management platform to enable data collection, integration, analysis, and correlation to highlight possible interconnections between ecosystems

To achieve these objectives, the consortium includes multidisciplinary expertise, guaranteed by the collaboration between CNR, UNIPR, UCSC, and MISTER, with significant scientific contribution from CNR research units located in southern Italy.

The multidisciplinary nature of the FARM project is further evidenced by the presence of activities related to multiple Spokes of the ECOSISTER project (Spokes 1, 3, and 5), as well as WPs of Spoke 1 (WP2 and WP4), highlighting the strong correlation with ECOSISTER’s activities and objectives.

The ambitious holistic approach of the FARM project is supported by a workplan that guarantees technological feasibility for the achievement of the expected outputs, strengthening technological innovation in the Emilia Romagna region.

The relevance of the FARM project is also demonstrated by the official interest raised by stakeholders leading the dairy and food industrial sector.

Expected Results

DESIGN OF PRODUCTS, SERVICES, DEVICES, MATERIALS: portable sensing tool by integrating hardware and software to a miniaturized photonic sensor
APPLICATION OF TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES: analysis of two classes of analytes (antibiotics and lactoferrin) on different matrices (milk and cow urine) towards food safety and quality, animal welfare, and environmental monitoring
TESTING: data management for real-time self-monitoring; storage and central data processing to interconnect ecosystems
DEMONSTRATORS: demonstration of the FARM prototype in relevant environments (confirmatory benchmark methods and on-site)

Final Results

A functional biosensor incorporating microfluidics and a printed circuit board is ready for electronic integration.
The design and fabrication of the FARM prototype hardware is nearly complete.
A dedicated web application has been developed to control the prototype and collect generated data.
Algorithms have been implemented to enable automatic data analysis.
Key antibiotics, those commonly used for treating mastitis and foot rot, have been identified, and real-world samples are currently being collected.

Next Steps

Further developments and future collaborations

The project results will be shown to relevant stakeholders in view of implementing this innovative analytical tool in the food industry as well as to further exploit the prototype in other fields of application, such as biodiagnostics.