Speaker: Stephen Swatkoski, Ph.D., US FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

Topic: Analysis of genetically engineered plants and processed food by LC-MS/MS

Date: Monday, December 18, 2017

Time: 6:15 pm Dinner, 7:15 pm: Presentation

Location: Shimadzu Scientific Instrument, Inc. Training Center 7100 Riverwood Drive, Columbia, MD 21046 (Directions)

Dinner: Please RSVP to Stefani Thomas (sthoma92@jhmi.edu) before Friday, December 15th if you will be attending the dinner.

Abstract: Advancements in transgenic technologies over the past two decades have led to a significant increase in the production of genetically engineered (GE) plants/foods. For example, the percentage of planted acres of GE corn in the United States has risen from approximately 25% in 2000 to greater than 90% in 2017. Currently, the most widely used methods for the detection of GE events in plants/foods are A) PCR for the detection of transgenic DNA and B) immunoassays for the detection of the protein(s) expressed by the transgenic DNA. We are currently developing non-targeted mass spectrometry-based proteomics methods to confidently identify transgenic proteins in GE plants. Furthermore, we are developing targeted methods to detect the presence of GE ingredients in corn and soy-based processed foods. These methods have been shown to provide an advantage over antibody-based methods because they provide an unambiguous result and allow for the detection of multiple transgenic proteins in a single LC MS/MS run.