Cytodiagnostics Inc.

Purpose

Domoic acid (DA) is a significant concern to consumers of marine foods, given acute poisoning can be life threatening, and with impact of low doses being cumulative over time, can cause cognitive disability and illness. At present, the only existing option for biotoxin testing in Canada is to send samples to a CFIA laboratory. Cytodiagnostics aims to develop a simple, rapid, and field-ready assay to address the current market issue. The proposed sensor is an aptamer-based fluorescent assay with semi-quantitative output for estimation of domoic acid in marine water and tissue homogenate samples. The field-ready device will be an easy to use test that requires minimal processing and is robust enough to resist environmental challenges.