Immunoanalytics and Food Allergens

A sophisticated mix of methods is needed to detect allergens in food. This is what iBAM's immunoanalytics group specialises in.

In recent decades, the number of people suffering from allergies has risen continuously. An important point of contact with allergens is food intake. In the sense of a holistic evaluation of food safety, it therefore seemed important to us to be able to provide suitable instruments for qualitative and quantitative analysis for this type of ingredient as well.

Within the framework of various research projects, new analytical starting points for allergen detection have been developed. These starting points can be found in the research field of immunoanalytics and mass spectrometry. It has been possible to develop antibodies for almost all important food allergens through projects and company cooperations. Here, a CD laboratory led to success in the development of diagnostic tests for allergens up to market maturity. At the same time, analytical reference methods based on mass spectrometry were and are being established and continuously developed for the quality assurance of the rapid tests. This is the basis for comprehensive work on food allergen and allergy risk management. This work benefits from both the instrumental equipment and the methodological know-how at iBAM.

Furthermore, intensive work is being done to specify the analytical rapid tests for allergen detection from the detection of a protein mixture more and more in the direction of allergen protein detection up to epitope detection.

Ongoing projects

"Danube Allergy Research Cluster" under the direction of Univ.Prof. Rudolf Valenta. This is a research network for allergy research funded by the state of Lower Austria, in which numerous scientists from Vienna and Lower Austria are networked with each other.