Institute of Bioanalytics and Agro-Metabolomics

Research at the Institute of Bioanalytics and Agro-Metabolomics (iBAM) at the department IFA-Tulln is centered around the development and application of high-performance (bio-)analytical methods beyond the state-of-the-art. Together with its national and international cooperation partners from the academia, the industry and the Austrian Competence Centre for Feed, Food, Quality, Safety and Innovation (FFoQSI), iBAM pursues a highly interdisciplinary strategy to develop analytical platforms and workflows in various research areas. A major activity of the institute consists of the multi-class determination of chemical residues and co-occurring mycotoxins and plant toxins in agricultural commodities, food and feed. The institute´s activities further include the study of entire bio-logical systems with a major emphasis on plant-fungi interactions and on the gut health metabolome by using (isotope assisted) metabolomics-based liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry approaches. In cooperation with BOKU´s partner universities at IFA, the TU Wien and VetMed Vienna, we develop rapid DNA-, antibody- and mass spectrometry-based assays for the quantification of (pathogenic) microorganisms in food and water samples and of allergens in foods. In addition to its research activities, iBAM organizes a commercial proficiency testing scheme in cooperation with the Federal Environment Agency as an important means for the external quality assurance in water analysis. As part of our mission we act as an interdisciplinary platform to link the various scientific disciplines and research areas established at the Campus Technopol Tulln and also house parts of BOKU´s Core Facility "Bioactive Molecules Screening & Analysis". iBAM staff is involved in MSc curricula and BOKU´s doctoral study programs and offers courses and lectures which focus on food safety and exposure assessment, immunoanalytics, mass spectrometry and plant-microbe metabolomics as well as on infrared spectroscopy and green analytical chemistry . Moreover, iBAM is coordinator of two continuing education university programs, the Mycotoxin Summer Academy and Mass Spectrometry in Food Safety and of the HORIZON MSCA Doctoral Network BioToxDoc.

History and Activities of the Institute of Bioanalytics & Agro-Metabolomics at IFA-Tulln