Dr. Dezfulian proposes to develop an ELISA for rapid detection of both the toxin and the anti-toxin, and also the identification of toxigenic colonies of the organism, C. botulinum. He will prepare monoclonal antibodies specific for types A and B neurotoxin and use them in the development of the ELISA. He also proposes to enhance the sensitivity of the ELISA by amplification techniques, and he will test the amplified ELISA by using it to detect toxin and toxigenic colonies, and to measure antibodies to the toxin in human serum.
