Projektübersicht

Botulinum NeuroToxin (BoNT) causes a potentially fatal disease called botulism. With an estimated LD50 of 1 ng/kg body weight, the family of BoNT serotypes, subdivided into more than 40 subtypes, are the most toxic naturally occurring substances known. The most widely accepted method for BoNT detection is the Mouse Lethality Bioassay (MLB) which has a sensitivity of 10-100 pg/mL. However, respiratory failure is the end point, large numbers of mice are required for serotyping and quantitation (> 100 per sample), and it has variable sensitivity and long readout times of 1-4 days. The purpose of the Botulinum NeuroToxin BLD-Test Performance Study is to validate a recently developed molecular-based BoNT assay so that it may be successfully adapted to replace the MLB for detecting and distinguishing the disease causing serotypes in a range of matrices (e.g. food, beverage, environmental, and human and animal samples collected for diagnostic purposes). The BLD-Test employs an automated, portable point-of-care test system (LabDisk) that can be used with minimal training.