Two projects funded by the Center for Produce Safety are seeking to “simplify Cyclospora detection in water samples, while those with the other project hope to validate an economical water-filtration system to significantly reduce protozoan risks.
Researcher Lia Stanciu, Ph. D. with Perdue University is heading efforts to find a “cost-effective method to detecting Cyclospora in irrigation water based on selected molecules, or DNA, sequences.
Known as “aptamers,” the short strands of synthesized DNA only bind to the target of interest, and in this case researchers focuses on Cyclospora oocysts, or the transmission stage.
Joining Stanciu in the project is Amanda Deering, Ph.D. also with Perdue. The two plan to design a low-cost paper-based test for rapid in-field detection of oocysts.
The second project is being headed by Benjamin Rosenthal, a doctor of science with the USDA ARS, and is looking into whether simple sand filters and/or zero-valent iron sand filters may significantly reduce Cyclospora in irrigation water. Joining him in the project are USDA ARS colleagues Jitender Dubey, Ph.D.; Mark Jenkins, Ph.D.; Manan Sharma, Ph.D.; and Kalamia Kniel, Ph.D. with the University of Delaware.
Rosenthal cited Kniel and Sharma’s previous work on filtration to reduce bacterial and viral pathogens in water as basis for the current project.
“We’re evaluating the basic principle that physical exclusion might be an option to reduce parasite burdens,” Rosenthal said.
