Title: DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF INSECT COMPOUNDS IN FISH DIET.

 Supervisor:  Prof.ssa Francesca Tulli

Insects are part of the natural diet of both freshwater and marine fish and because they are rich in amino acids, lipids, vitamins and minerals and leave a small ecological footprint, they have been considered as potential alternatives to fish meal and fish oil in diet for reared fish. Moreover, insect larvae can rapidly transform organic waste and the final product of this bioconversion is an abundant amount of insect larvae rich in proteins (40%) and lipids (30%). Their ability to renewal waste and their potential usage as feed in livestock and aquaculture production has recently attracted the attention of the European Council. An official EU document (EU Regulation 2017/893) has defined seven breeding insect species that will be allowed in the fish diet.

The EU Regulation 2017/893 is currently valid, starting from 1 July 2017, requiring the traceability of the insect, an innovative protein aqua-feed source, to certify the exclusive presence of the allowed insect species. The traceability problem in food/feed is also a strategic issue of the Regional Agency for the Rural Development of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (ERSA), as reported in the official document “Smart Strategy FVG”, paragraph 3.3.1, 2014.

The goal of research project is the development of a multiplex bio-sensor able to detect and identify simultaneously the seven allowed insect species, as well as the presence of generic insect, in aquafeed. For the bio-sensor development a new technological platform will be used, currently under development in the Slovenian start-up OR-EL.doo, to allow in situ analysis. A Point-of-Care (POC) system, based on the detection of a fluorescent signal, excited by an organic light emitting diode (OLED) source, by a high sensitivity image sensor (CMOS), will be used as a reader of a disposable multi-parametric cartridge. This cartridge has a transparent substrate where an array of different biological probes can be arranged. In this project, a genomic approach will be used for the development of the different species-specific DNA probes (DNA capture probes bound to the transparent substrate and DNA detection probes conjugated with a fluorophore for the insect DNA recognition). Using this approach, we will be able to detect the presence of the different insects in the fish feed in a single analysis, with a strong potential for the food/feed control and traceability.

Biography and Contacts

Enrico Daniso was born in 1991 in San Vito al Tagliamento (Italy). In 2013 graduated in Animal Production Science and in 2016 graduated in Plant and Animal Biotechnology Master at Udine University (Italy). During the university period he made three Erasmus, first at the Progemus (Belgium) second at the Politecnica de Valencia, plant department (Spain) and the third at the University of Ljubljana, virology department ( Slovenia), in 2016 he worked for one year in MP Biomedicals. In 2017 he started the doctoral course at the PhD school “Agriculture Science and Biotechnology” at the University of Udine.

Email: Daniso.Enrico@spes.uniud.it

Phone: +39 0432 558179