Cyclospora cayaetanensis monitoring in agricultural water

Currently, there is a severe lack of standard detection and identification technologies for Cyclospora cayetanensis. There are several obstacle standing in the way of advancement towards technologies for early detection and mitigation of this parasite in agricultural water and produce. These include a lack of commercially available biorecognition elements, such as antibodies, as well as difficulties for researchers to access a source of Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts. Here, our team propose to integrate SELEX Cyclospora cayetanensis aptamer selection and their integration into a low-cost microfluidic paper based detection devices, which our group previously developed for different analytical targets. The proposed devices will become a solution to some of the major challenges standing in the way of effective detection of C. cayetanensis in agricultural water, namely: (i) the lack of biological recognition elements for this pathogen; (ii) the challenge of low concentration that makes early detection and monitoring decisions difficult and (iii) the lack of low-cost field deployable testing devices that can monitor the presence of Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts without extensive sample preparation protocols and trained personnel.