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Title: RAPID ASSAY METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETECTION AND ESTIMATION OF MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION OF SUBSTRATA
Inventor: Rosanna Giordano, Vladimir Gouli, and Svetlana Gouli
Description:Current surface sampling techniques are limited in their capacity to retrieve all types of contaminants, risking the possibility that a contamination will go through undetected. All microbial particles (spores, conidia, vegetative microbial cells etc.) have strong adhesive properties, and it can be difficult to remove then using traditional wash or imprint methods. Some substrata, especially soft or gelatinous materials, can pose additional difficulties for the reliable detection of microbial contamination.
These technologies provide a detection system with a simple, adhesive tape-based, sampling system capable of rapidly picking off even the strongest held particles, but gentle enough for softer and more delicate surfaces. The adhesive tape has a round form with a size conformable to the inside diameter of standard Petri dishes and one half of the adhesive tape has perforations for the growth and development of aerobic microorganisms. After contact with the surface to be investigated, the adhesive tape is placed in the Petri dish, containing growth media that provides a suitable environment for the growth of microorganisms. The system is self-contained and simple to use.
Advantages: This microbe detection system provides a more thorough and trustworthy assessment of aerobic and anaerobic microbial contamination through its capacity to pull more numbers and variety of microbes off the substrata, as well as through its ability to test all types of surfaces. After incubation of the Petri plates, the capacity of this method will allow a more accurate estimation of the degree of contamination present in the original tested substrata. The efficiency of the sampling system allows for more rapid testing and multiple analyses in a short amount of time. In addition, this detection system offers a better capability for identification of the type and intensity of contamination, through the ability of growing sampled surface material on different media as well as providing colonies for DNA analysis.
Patent Status: Patent pending
Licensing status: Worldwide rights available
Title: WHEY-BASED FUNGAL MICROFACTORY TECHNOLOGY FOR ENHANCED BIOLOGICAL PEST MANAGEMENT USING FUNGI
Inventor: Scott Costa
Description: Whey-based fungal microfactory technology targets improvement in field deployment of fungi for biological pest management of insects, weeds, plant diseases and other pests. This technology relies on the nutritive value of sweet whey, which allows fungi sprayed into environments such as agricultural fields and forests to grow in tiny droplets. The tiny fungal factories spontaneously activate under suitable environmental conditions and produce dramatic increases, as much as 100-fold, in the number of fungal spores for pest management. The additional fungus increases the dose available for infecting the pest. When fully developed, whey-based fungal microfactory technology should enhance the effectiveness and commercial potential of the many beneficial fungi under development for pest management worldwide.
Advantages: Most fungi used for biological pest management are relatively simple to mass-produce but production processes are space intensive and may involve costly growth substrates. This can make their final cost comparatively more expensive than chemical pesticides, and often limits fungal commercialization to only smaller, high value markets. Whey-based fungal microfactories rely on sweet whey, an inexpensive by-product from cheese manufacturing. The intention is to shift a significant portion of fungal production to post-
application, out of ‘brick and mortar’ facilities and into nature. The tailoring of this technology to different fungi should dramatically improve the cost effectiveness of fungal biological control agents and enhance their contribution to environmental quality by reducing pesticide usage.
For fungi to be effective, the ‘infectious units’ must come into direct contact with the target pest. Fungal microfactories should allow greater opportunity for fungus/pest contact because of the high level of fungi produced and thus overcome physical and economic constraints of current strategies based on directly applying large amounts of fungi. In addition, some pests live in places that are difficult to reach and the additional fungi from microfactories would further enhance pest contact.
Pesticide failures and environmental concerns generate considerable incentive to commercialize the many fungi identified to target members of most pest classes, e.g., insecticide resistant whitefly in cotton, methyl bromide replacement, mycotoxins reduction in stored grains, plant re-growth along power lines and combating invasive pests. For fungi targeting insects, the past 4 decades have seen 80 companies worldwide manufacture or develop 168 fungal myco-insecticides. Yearly, US-EPA grants registration to fungi for pest management, and the scientific literature is replete with publications on numerous mycopathogens for biological pest management. Current fungal microfactory research is directed at the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect of forests, with recent press releases having generated considerable interest (see link). Whey-based microfactory technology has the potential to facilitate widespread expansion in the adoption fungi for biological pest management. http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/theview/article.php?id=2238
Patent Status: Patent pending
Licensing status: Worldwide rights available
watch the video on the fungal microfactory pest management
Title: ELECTROSTATIC PARTICLE EXPOSURE SYSTEM
Inventor: Giuseppe Petrucci
Description:A system has been developed to quantitatively, accurately, and reproducibly expose cell cultures to controlled masses and/or numbers of aerosol particles. The particles may be deposited either in a mono- (i.e., single diameter) or polydisperse (multiple diamteres) fashion. The nominal operating range of particle sizes (diameters) for the existing configuration is ~30 – 900 nm, although operation may be extended to micrometer sized particles readily. The invention consists of an exposure chamber housing a conducting pedestal for the cell culture dish, an electrostatic cage, and flow controls. In addition there is a particle charging instrument on the front end and a particle counter on the back end. The invention deposits all particles of a selected diameter between 10 nm and 900 nm with one hundred percent efficiency. The system does not disturb the cell culture in any way. Mutiple cell cultures can be exposed simultaneously. It can also be used to expose cells to both gases and aerosol particles simultaneously.
Advantages:There exists no accepted commercial method for the exposure of cell cultures to aerosol particles. As such, the invention is a major advancement for the fields of environmental pathology, pollution toxicity, environmental monitoring, air quality, and emission controls. It is unique in its capability to accurately expose cell cultures to aerosol particles in a reproducible fashion. This is done without causing any measurable damage to the cells.
Patent Status: Patent pending
Licensing status: Worldwide rights available
watch the video on the electrostatic particle exposure system
Title: TREATMENT OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS INFECTIONS
Inventor: A. John Bramley, Karen Plaut, David Kerr
Description: Infection of the mammary gland is a frequent problem for the dairy industry, and leads to estimated economic losses of $184 per cow per year, or approximately $2 billion/year in the U.S. Mastitis is transmitted from cow to cow at milking time. This invention provides methods and reagents for expressing novel proteins in mammalian cells that have anti-microbial, particularly anti-staphylococcal, activity. The invention provides altered genes, in which the naturally-occurring microbial sequences have been engineered to allow expression of active protein in desired mammalian cells or tissues. An altered gene has been modified in such a manner that the protein it encodes is not only produce in mammalian cells, but is secreted from those cells, so that a local concentration of anti-staphylococcal protein is created outside of the cells. Genes have also been altered so that the anti-microbial protein is expressed within cells that are sensitive to intracellular infection.
Advantages: Current therapies and preventative treatments for staphylococcal mastitis rely heavily on sterilization techniques, selective culling of animals with chronic recurring mastitis, and the us of ß-lactam antibiotics. There has been little success with vaccines, and sterilization techniques have less than a 15% success rate. This invention provides a genetic approach to eliminate the problem, which now costs the dairy industry $1.7 billion per year in reduced milk yield, reduced compositional quality, lower product quality, and increased veterinary cost.
Patent Status: Patents issued: 6,875,903; 7,091,332
Licensing status: Worldwide rights available
watch the video on mastitis resistance in transgenic cows
Title: IMPROVED STRUCTURE OF PROBIOTIC GOAT'S MILK YOGURT BY ENZYMATIC CROSSLINKING
Inventors: Jillian P. Farnsworth and Mingruo Guo, Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Vermont
Description: Goat’s milk products are becoming increasingly popular in the United States. Unfortunately, it is difficult to make probiotic goat’s milk yogurt of good consistency due to it’s low casein content. In this study, the effects of microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) on the viscosity and syneresis of probiotic goat’s milk yogurt, containing Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and subsp. lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium, and Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. casei, were investigated. The effect of total solids on the viscosity was also studied. A Brookfield viscometer was used to analyze the viscosity of the yogurt (at 22ºC). Results showed that the viscosity of the yogurts ranged from 3.2x103mPa for control yogurt to 2.0x104mPa for the yogurt fortified with milk powder (7% total solids) and 1.2x107mPa for the sample treated with 4.0 units of MTGase per gram protein. The effect of MTGase on syneresis was measured by centrifuging the samples at 640 x g for 10 min. at 4ºC. The viscosity of the goat’s milk yogurt was significantly increased by the enzymatic crosslinking (p<0.01). The water holding capacity of the yogurt was also significantly increased (p<0.01). The results of the present study show that the enzymatic crosslinking may be an effective way to improve the consistency of probiotic goat’s milk yogurt products.
watch the video on functional foods
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