Microarray technology for agriculture and food application

Microarray technology allows high-throughput screening and analysis. BIOTEC Microarray Laboratory is equipped with technologies to fabricate array chips inhouse as well as applying them in various aspects of research and development. To understand fundamental biology of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), the first version of cDNA microarray has been constructed to study the reproduction and nutrigenomics of this economically important animal.

The second area of interest is to develop diagnostic kits by interfacing microarray technology with biological molecules such as antibodies. A prototype of antibody array has been developed to simultaneously detect multiple food-borne pathogens (E. coli O157:H7 Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes) using a chemiluminescent detector, NanoDetector. This system is based on chemiluminescent immunoassay similar to mini sandwich Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Each slide can accurately detect three pathogens at the same time.

The sensitivity and specificity are equivalent to those of conventional ELISA. However, the assay time required for this system can be reduced from 5 hrs to only little over 1 hr without affecting sensitivity and accuracy of the system. Equally as sensitive as ELISA, the antibody array uses very small amounts of the capture and HRP-antibodies. The advantages of the antibody array make this technology more appealing for commercialization. A higher-throughput system using a 96-well format using a fluorescent detector is also being developed to lower the cost of antibody even more.