Five-question interviews with the 2014 FDA Food Safety Challenge finalists

FIVE QUESTIONS WITH BART WEIMER, PH.D., PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

This post is part of a series of five-question interviews with the 2014 FDA Food Safety Challenge finalists. Register for Demo Day on July 7th to see the finalists present their concepts as they compete for the remainder of the $500,000 prize. 

Today’s “Five Questions” post features Bart Weimer, Ph.D., from the Dr. Bart Weimer/U.C. Davis/Mars, Inc. team, one of 5 finalists competing for the remainder of the $500,000 prize purse in the FDA Food Safety Challenge.

What is your concept? Tell us about it in two sentences or less. 

Our concept is to eliminate enrichment and pre-enrichment using a capture and concentration method. It can be made to be specific for foodborne pathogens and subsequently coupled to multiple detection methods to provide results directly from food in minutes.

What problem is your team trying to solve?

We eliminated enrichment. This is the longest step in food testing and it hinders product release.

What have been your biggest challenges and successes in developing this solution?

Our biggest challenge is scaling the device to meet the production sizes of the food industry. Our biggest success has been making the capture step function in many food types and then coupling it to multiple detection methods so as to be relevant for many industries.

Your team has entered the Field Accelerator period, which includes mentorship from the FDA and participation in a live Boot Camp. What’s the biggest insight you’ve uncovered through this process so far?

The biggest insight has been the rigor that is used to define methods that are acceptable to FDA.

What else do you hope to learn through the Field Accelerator process?

We are very interested in understanding how flexible regulators can be for testing in light of newer genomics and culture independent methods coming along.

To Check out the other contestants 5 questions please click here

Posted in uncategorized | Comments Off on Five-question interviews with the 2014 FDA Food Safety Challenge finalists

FDA Food Safety Challenge Demo Days Announced

The FDA Demo Days for the first ever Food Safety Challenge have been announced.  Join us via live webcast on July 7, 2015 to see finalist UC Davis’ team presentation. The starting time is 12:00 pm, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)   Please notice the link below to sign in, (meeting ID: 278 279 836, meeting password: 07072015).  Also, for anyone in the DC area who would like to go to demo days, it is now open to the public, you can register by clicking on the eventbrite link.

Live Webcast information

Eventbrite registration

Posted in uncategorized | Comments Off on FDA Food Safety Challenge Demo Days Announced

UC Davis/Mars Inc. team named as a finalist in the FDA Food Safety Challenge

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2014 FDA FOOD SAFETY CHALLENGE FINALISTS!
MAY 11, 2015
We are thrilled to announce the five Challenge finalists in the 2014 FDA Food Safety Challenge! The finalists will each receive $20,000 and advance to the Field Accelerator to refine their concepts with coaching and mentorship from FDA experts in food safety and pathogen testing.

Finalists will also participate in an in-person boot camp with FDA experts on May 13, 2015 to help strengthen their concepts and increase their applicability to FDA’s testing process. Demo Day will be held on July 7, 2015, giving the finalists the opportunity to present their improved concepts to the judges and a live audience. Stay tuned for more details for this exciting event, which will take place at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition headquarters in College Park, MD.

Congratulations to the finalists, and thank you to everyone who participated in the Challenge. With a $500,000 total prize purse, the Challenge seeks to achieve revolutionary improvements in the speed of the FDA’s detection methods for Salmonella in fresh produce. Each of the selected finalists offers a promising approach to achieving this goal.

2014 FDA FOOD SAFETY CHALLENGE FINALISTS
Auburn University
Method which combines magnetoelastic biosensors and a surface-scanning detector used directly on food surfaces.

Team Members:

Bryan Chin, Professor, Auburn University
Steve Best, TES Engineer, Auburn University
Shin Horikawa, Postdoctoral Researcher, Auburn University
I-Hsuan Chen, Research Associate, Auburn University
Dr. Bart Weimer/U.C. Davis/Mars, Inc.
Method that captures and concentrates Salmonella from large, complex samples using antibodies and host receptors for detection with solid phase ELISA, DNA and RNA.

Team Members:

Bart Weimer, Professor, U.C. Davis
Azarene Foutouhi, Student, U.C. Davis
Dylan Storey, Postdoctoral Fellow, U.C. Davis
Bob Baker, Senior Scientist, Mars, Inc.
Peter Markwell, Senior Scientist, Mars, Inc.
Pronucleotein, Inc.
DNA aptamer-magnetic bead sandwich assays used to detect foodborne pathogens with a handheld fluorescence reader.

Team Members:

John Bruno, Ph.D., VP and CTO, Pronucleotein, Inc.
James Byron, CEO, Xgenex
Purdue University
Physical method for concentrating Salmonella to detectable levels using automated microfiltration.

Team Members:

Michael Ladisch, Distinguished Professor and Director, Purdue University
Eduardo Ximenes, Bioprocess Research Scientist, Purdue University
Kirk Foster, Senior Research Engineer, Purdue University
Seockmo Ku, Graduate Student, Purdue University
Amanda Deering, Research Assistant Professor, Purdue University
Thomas Kreke, Lab Tech IV, Purdue University
University of Illinois/Purdue University
Portable system for multiplexed detection of foodborne pathogens in microfluidic biochips through isothermal DNA amplification and electrical detection.

Team Members:

Rashid Bashir, Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Michael Ladisch, Distinguished Professor and Director, Purdue University
Arun K. Bunhia, Professor, Purdue University
Carlos Duarte-Guevara, Graduate Student, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Eric Salm, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Read the submission abstracts to learn more about the finalists’ concepts.

Posted in uncategorized | Comments Off on UC Davis/Mars Inc. team named as a finalist in the FDA Food Safety Challenge