Mbio diagnostics is proposing to develop a portable, rapid, inexpensive technology for more effective detection of harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins in shellfish

The proposed product will help producers and managers get more product to market while ensuring the safety of this commercially important food supply during HAB events. Shellfish are filter feeders and can accumulate HAB toxins during blooms. These toxins can cause serious health effects including temporary paralysis, intestinal or respiratory distress, or even death. Shellfish harvest closures due to HAB toxins are required to protect public health. Current testing is based on time consuming and expensive laboratory methods. The interstate shellfish sanitation conference (issc, the primary industry/regulatory cooperative body in the US), has stated that the development of field deployable, rapid, inexpensive screening methods is a major unmet need. Portable, rapid, inexpensive technologies to detect HAB toxins could help improve the timeliness and effectiveness of toxin testing, enabling more shellfish to be marketed while simultaneously meeting the priority of protecting public health. The united states has regulatory limits for common toxins found in shellfish meat. The US requires testing of shellfish meat for saxitoxin (STX) which causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), domoic acid (DA) which causes amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), and okadaic acid (OA) which causes diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Currently, tests for these three toxins can be time consuming and expensive, which hinders the distribution of harvested shellfish. Mbio diagnostics is developing a transformative platform technology that will enable users in the field to perform cost-effective, multiplexed, rapid, laboratory-quality HAB toxin testing. This technology will protect the safety of the nation's food supply while enabling expansion of aquaculture by reducing the time and cost necessary to bring shellfish to market.