BACTOPLUS

The collaborative project titled “New Developments and Applications of a Device for Detecting Pathogenic Bacteria Using Surface Plasmons” (BACTOPLUS), financed by the “Financial Assistance for Technology Centres and Research Bodies for Collaborative R&D Projects” call for proposals by the Universities, Innovation and Digital Transformation Department of the government of Navarre, is a project coordinated by the IdAB-CSIC, in which three organisations from SINAI, i.e. IdAB, INTIA and CNTA, along with the external collaboration of the Materials Physics Centre (Centro de Física de Materiales, CFM), in which we have joined scientific-technological efforts to improve food safety in all stages of the food chain, from farm to table. The general goal of the project was to develop a fast, simple and cheap technology for detecting pathogenic microorganisms, like Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, in different food matrices that are interesting for the food industry and primary Latxa sheep milk production. As a result, we developed and patented a technology based on colloidal gold nanoparticles (Au-NP) functionalized with DNA/RNA probes that can detect interesting pathogens when they are multiplying in foods. In addition, the Latxa sheep milk studies generated a large amount of new information about the epidemiological situation and sustainable health monitoring of pathogens in this production sector and its derived food products. In short, the device prototype with Au-NP developed in the BACTOPLUS project has a wide range of applications in both the agrifood field and health diagnostics, and it is available to companies interested in a specific application