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Generation of norovirus-like particles as antigen for the development of detection systems for viruses in food
Project
Project code: BfR-BIOS-08-1322-404
Contract period: 01.04.2009
- 31.12.2009
Purpose of research: Applied research
At present, the reliable and sensitive detection of viruses in food is the limiting step in attempts to verify food-borne infections and to determine criteria for the virological safety of foods. Especially, the concentration and purification of viruses from foods is difficult due to low amounts of virus within the food and the presence of substances which inhibit the detection system. Recently, immunological methods have been developed, which use immobilized virus-specific antibodies for virus enrichment from complex matrices prior to their sen-sitive detection. However, for noroviruses, which represent the most important food-borne viruses, no reliable and broadly reacting antibodies are commercially available due to their high variability. Therefore, hyperimmune sera against actual norovirus strains will be produced in the proposed project. As noroviruses cannot be propagated in tissue culture, viruslike particles known to be highly immunogenic will be recombinantly expressed in yeast cells. The antibodies generated after immunization with these particles will be used for the development of a diagnostic system for noroviruses in food.
Section overview
Subjects
- Food microbiology
- Toxicology