AntioxDevice

Date
2016 — 2018
Groupe de compétences
Dispositifs médicaux

Analysis of antioxidant capacity in food, by combining two methods: HPLC and photometric spotting plate. Development of a plug-in device that can be fitted to different HPLC instruments.

Context and challenges

Today, foods are not only consumed to cover nutritional needs, but also in order to gain benefit from their health-promoting effects. Antioxidant activity is believed to play a predominant role in the beneficial effect of food compounds. It follows that for industrial food processing it is important to be assess how processes such as pasteurization, drying and aging, influence the antioxidant profile.

Objectives

The objective of the AntioxDevice project is to combine two methods (HPLC, photometric spotting plate) for the analysis of antioxidant capacity in food. Such an integration is done by developing a plug-in device that can be fitted to different HPLC instruments.

The device is based on a microfluidic chip that splits the HPLC eluent stream into three anti-oxidant analysis modules operating in parallel, and integrates the analysis by conventional UV/VIS photonic sensors.

The results enable assessment of the compounds responsible for the antioxidant capacity of analyzed food sample. This knowledge helps to select the most promising marker compounds for tracing antioxidant capacity changes from farm to fork through the food chain.

Partners and funding

Institute of Life Technologies, HES-SO Valais

Institute of Systems Engineering, HES-SO Valais

Funded by the HES-SO

Results

In the AntioxDevice project we develop:

  • Parallelization of the anti-oxidant capacity analysis
  • Multiplex optical detection integrated with fluidics
  • Integration of HPLC analysis with anti-oxidant capacity detection
  • Industrialization of glass microfluidic chips

Project Manager (for HE-Arc Ingénierie)

A micromixer for the antioxydants capacity detection: a change of colour detected by an integrated photodetector will assess the presence of antioxydants: