Molecular approaches to diagnosis
Our internationally recognised team of molecular
diagnosticians and researchers cover numerous aquatic animal health
topic areas. We are currently seeking "flexible scope" ISO/IEC 17025
accreditation for the confirmation of a wide range of fish,
molluscs and crustacean pathogens including:
- viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS)
- infectious salmon anaemia (ISA)
- koi herpesvirus (KHV)
- Marteilia refringens
- Bonamia ostreae
- Taura syndrome virus
- white spot syndrome virus (WSSV)
- yellowhead virus.
As partners in the BioChip project consortium, our team
have been developing assays to produce a DNA array that will help
to detect more than 600 viruses affecting humans, animals,
plants, fish and bees.
We have also generated a more specific array aimed at the
detection and identification of viruses found in fish, molluscs and
crutaceans. The whole process - from nucleic acid extraction to
pathogen identification using the DNA array - takes less
than two days. This is much quicker than traditional culture
methods of virus testing, which can take as long as seven
to ten days. Our approach also has an advantage over
pathogen-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approaches,
as we screen for a wider range of viral pathogens in a
single test.
Our Weymouth laboratory is fully equipped to undertake automated
nucleic acid extraction, real-time and traditional PCR-based
assays and sequence analysis. The laboratory also has the capacity
to undertake pathogen detection using micro-array technologies and
pathogen labelling using in situ hybridisation.
For more about our molecular approaches to disagnosing animal
diseases contact david.stone@cefas.co.uk.