Tonalli Moana: Detecting toxins in kaimoana in minutes, not days

It can identify, in real-time, the presence of a range of toxins from algal blooms in seawater or in the flesh of any marine animal being harvested for food. What makes the sensor so novel is the use of carefully-designed aptamers – single strands of synthetic DNA that bind only to the target toxin. “It does this super accurately, and the binding happens instantly,” says Jiménez. “We can then translate that binding event into a concentration, so the system is not just detecting the presence or absence of the toxin, but also the amount in the sample. The whole process takes 10 minutes, and it can be done right there, in the field.”

This is a far cry from the testing regime currently used by fisheries and the aquaculture industry, which involves taking samples at the point of harvest, and sending them to an analytical lab for testing. “It takes three to seven days to send the results back, which sounds fast,” says Jiménez, “But during that time, the food is in storage waiting for the go-ahead.” And if the lab results show toxin levels that are on or above the regulatory limit, that food cannot be sold. “You can’t overcook the food or denature it in some way to get rid of these toxins – once they’re there, that’s it. The only solution is to throw it away,” he says.

Losses like these cost the global aquaculture industry billions of dollars per year, so for Jiménez, this offered a clear business opportunity. But his ambitions have always been centred on people, and on their access to the ocean’s bounty. An indigenous Mexican, Jiménez grew up by the coast and loved seafood, but as he reflects, it wasn’t always available, “We sometimes had these toxic events called ‘red tides’ that would cause people to get sick, or even die from eating contaminated shellfish. When my daughter was two and in Ōpōtiki with her family, there was an e-coli outbreak that meant she couldn’t eat pipi for a long time. She likely won’t get to eat some of the clams I had in childhood because of Mexico’s ongoing issues with toxins. I wanted to do something to ensure that future generations can continue to access these taonga.” 

Dr Jiménez first started developing his biosensor with the support of a SfTI Seed grant, not long after completing his PhD on population genetics of the grey mullet or kanae. “What I was proposing represented a major shift in my research, with no clear development path, so it was high-risk. But SfTI saw the potential and understood my story, and said ‘let’s do it.’ Since day one, everyone at SfTI got behind me – they nurtured me as a whole, not just as a scientist. Tonalli Moana wouldn’t exist without them.” 

His first collaborators were Te Whakatōhea – his daughter’s iwi – in the eastern Bay of Plenty. He also worked with Kono, a Māori family-owned food and beverage business that at the time processed and exported mussels. These relationships allowed him to develop and test his aptamer probes, and to understand the needs of industry. Since then, he’s continued refining and improving the system, and has been able to expand the team at Tonalli Moana. “Every additional brain has brought new knowledge,” says Jiménez. “We've been developing a multi-toxin test that can detect more than a single toxin at once. We’re also working with Callaghan Innovation to get a validation process in place for the tech, and ensure it complies with MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) regulations and those that exist elsewhere in the world.” 

The team is in conversation with patent lawyers to identify those components of the system that require patent protection. The next step after that is to put their working prototype through a pilot test with industry partners and iwi. “We’re at an incredibly exciting stage,” says Jiménez.

His work is attracting attention overseas too, particularly with other indigenous groups, “Not only my tribes like the Huichol in Mexico, but also cooperatives like Bendito Mar SeaFarms in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Bendito Mar Seafarms align deeply with Tonalli Moana values. It has an ongoing non-profit engagement with coastal communities to teach them how to implement best aquaculture practices and manage their marine resources. They’re all super happy to be engaging with us and they want to implement this technology as soon as possible, because just like Māori, they see their people getting sick. It is a challenging but beautiful journey. We’re glad to be making it.”

When asked about the potential impact of Jiménez’s work, Andrew Lucas, Compliance Manager of leading agribusiness company Talleys Ltd, says, “We’re genuinely excited by this work. The quantitative biotoxin sensor Balam is working on could be revolutionary to the shellfish industry, helping harvest operators in real time to know their crop is safe to harvest, when traditional methods couldn’t tell you this for days. This tech, once the ‘tuning’ process is completed for a variety of pathogens, should replace a whole host of equipment currently being used by the wider food industry to monitor food safety in real time, and provide cost-effective safety and confidence with consumers and industry, especially with fresh products of short shelf life.”