The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to increase aquaculture productivity by reducing disease impact. Disease costs billions in losses each year to the aquaculture industry and threatens the global food supply. The disease caused by White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) can devastate a shrimp farm and costs over $1 billion in losses each year. Farmers are often unaware of a disease issue until animals show advanced signs of disease or there are mortalities. Laboratory diagnosis is expensive and results take days-to-weeks, which is often far too long for results to be actionable. Early warning of white spot disease can enable farmers to take immediate action to reduce losses, reducing costs and increasing industrial robustness. This project advances a new diagnostic to quickly, easily, and reliably detect WSSV in cultivated shrimp in a new easy-to-use, on-site test.
This SBIR Phase I project will advance translation of a novel diagnostic for WSSV in a technology incorporating engineered proteins with specific targets into a paper-based biosensor. Prior studies demonstrated proof-of-concept with a paper-based immunoassay with polymerization-based amplification for detection of protein-based biomarkers for HRP2–the primary protein biomarker of malaria–with sensitivity as low as 70pM. This project will bioengineer thermostable rcSso7d DNA-binding proteins to bind the WSSV target and incorporate them into the paper testing format. Assay sensitivity, reagent composition, and dynamic range will be explored as part of an effort to understand the biological and functionally meaningful limits of the developed assay. Tasks include a WSSV challenge study to evaluate the sampling parameters and detection limits of the prototype in laboratory cultured shrimp. The resulting prototype will rapidly and selectively bind the WSSV target and yield stable, easily interpretable, colorimetric results.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
