Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9600
+32 25889658
ISSN: 2155-9600
+32 25889658
Jozef Kokini
Purdue University, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nutr Food Sci
The vast number of biosensors that are fabricated to detect toxins and pathogens brings up the concern for plastic and synthetic material build-up in the environment and necessitates the use of more eco-friendly and green biosensors. In this study, a natural corn polymer, zein, is converted into a disposable surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) biosensor platform in the form of electrospun fibers. First, the fabrication of the zein nanofibers were optimized for solvent use, polymer concentration and surface wettability. The suface of the nanofibers were then decorated with gold, silver, silver-shelledgold, or a mixture of gold and silver nanoparticles at four different particle concentrations (1010, 1011, 1012, 1013 particles/ml) to optimize the sensitivity. The highest SERS enhancement factor of 2.49 × 106 was obtained with silver-shelled-gold nanoparticles at a concentration of 1012 particles/ml, which is the highest enhancement factor ever reported for a protein-based biodegradable platform. Decorated zein nanofiber platforms were then used to detect acrylamide, which is a carcinogenic food toxin often found in roasted or fried foods. The limit of detection for acrylamide was 2.06 ng/mL, which is 104 times lower than what was achieved with a previously fabricated zein film-based SERS platform (Gezer et al., 2016). Additionally, FAO/WHO reported the lowest levels of GC-MS and LC-MS/MS detection of acrylamide as 5-10 ng/mL and 20-50 ng/mL, respectively, which are above the limit of detection of this study. This new green and disposable zein-based nanofiber mats show great potential to become the next renewable alternative for non-biodegradable biosensors.
Jozef Kokini received his PhD degree from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University. He is currently the Scholle Endowed Chair in Food Processing in the Department of Food Science at Purdue University. Prior to joining Purdue he was the Bingham Professor of Food Engineering and the Associate Dean of Research and Director of the Illinois Experiment station at the University of Illinois. He moved to Illinois from Rutgers where he was the Chair of the Department of Food Science and Director of the Center for Advanced Food Technology and Distinguished Professor of Food Engineering.