Research Projects

Food contamination is the major problem posing a severe threat to public health. Recent outbreaks trigger the public health domain to upgrade diagnosis and treatment methods. Food products contain different essential nutrients, providing compatible environment for the growth of pathogens. traditional culture and enrichment methods are there to detect food-borne pathogens, such as, Salmonella typhi and Vibrio cholerae. but these methods have some setbacks, such as being lengthy, requiring expertise, and cumbersome. Molecular and immunological techniques have associated drawbacks, such as cross-reactivity and expensive reagents. Electrochemical Aptasensors are the best alternative for overcoming all the drawbacks of conventional methods. For this we will use DNA Aptamers as a biological recognition element, which can directly bind to pathogens and produce a change in the electrochemical signal. Aptamers are long stretches of DNA or RNA, which can bind with the specific protein or antigen by forming unique structural forms. Although aptamers are not antibodies but competes in therapeutic and diagnostic applications and choice of researchers because of their attractive features and imitate antibody characteristics in a range of configurations such as lack of cross-reactivity, small size, ease of preparation, cost-effectiveness, and high specificity. Aptamers can even discriminate between biomolecules with very similar structures, such as caffeine and theophylline, which vary only by methyl group. Nowadays, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials are fascinating to researchers owing to their characteristic features such as high surface area, increased electron transfer kinetics, and stability. Thus, Aptamers and 2D nanomaterial are the best detection layer for food-borne pathogens, leads to a lower detection limit than earlier reported aptasensors. As computing power has improved dramatically in the last decade, computational modelling for aptamer structure prediction and docking screening has become increasingly important. Due to its ability to screen and enrich huge libraries of small compounds like Aptamers, has grown to be a crucial component of early drug development programs. DNA-Aptamers have received a lot of attention recently for use in treatment, diagnostics, and medication delivery. In brief, we aim to target conserved outer membrane Antigenic Protein as a target to synthesize Aptamers with two strategies, In-Silico SELEX, Docking and Molecular simulation and In-Vitro SELEX. Comparing In-Silico and In-vitro screening techniques for Aptamers will give significant results regarding Binding stability and target specificity. Furthermore, it will overcome the limitation of not knowing the target in Cell-SELEX. After applying multiple methodologies for In-vitro validation of Aptamers and Targeted Protein, and fabrication of Aptasensors, will come up with innovative technology for the Rapid and Point of care detection of Food-borne pathogens.