The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a guide for use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) in food safety.
The guidance comes in three parts. The first explains the minimum capacity requirements in the foodborne disease surveillance and response system prior to considering implementation of WGS.
The second discusses how
Continue Reading WHO unveils WGS guides to help tackle foodborne disease
Three German organizations have created a consortium to monitor bacterial pathogens and detect outbreaks faster.
The University of Münster, Research Center Borstel and the Robert Koch Institute formed the miGenomeSurv network (microbial genome-based surveillance of infectious agents).
This network is based on national reference laboratories, where infectious agents relevant to
Continue Reading German network set up for bacteria surveillance
Researchers say they believe they have found a cheap method to identify bacteria in a few hours on a mobile-phone-sized device.
The bacterial identification method, called ON-rep-seq, examines strain-specific fragments of the bacterial genome, allowing results that earlier required DNA sequencing of the whole bacterial genome. The method also returns
Continue Reading Researchers contend inexpensive method could change outbreak investigation approach
Use of whole genome sequencing is extremely limited in most developing nations, according to a study.
Researchers found while some countries lack the capacity to collect and analyse the data generated from whole genome sequencing (WGS), the main technical gap in most developing nations is in data interpretation using bioinformatics.
Continue Reading WGS use on pathogens ‘extremely limited’ in developing countries
