“A qPCR-based assay test is the most accurate method to detect harmful food-borne pathogens because a positive result indicates the presence of that particular strain’s DNA in the food sample that’s being tested,” said Nir Nimrodi, head of food safety and animal health at Life Technologies. “It’s also the fastest. While traditional laboratory testing methods can take up to 10 days for results, this test can determine the presence or absence of the German pathogen in 10-24 hours, depending on the sample type and size.”
Life Technologies began designing the specially tailored test after company researchers, using samples supplied by scientists at Munster University Hospital, completed the DNA sequencing and analysis work on the deadly E. coli strain using the Ion Personal Genome Machine PGM.
Results from their work, and independently supported by a second team of researchers in China also using the PGM, showed that the German E. coli bacterium is a hybrid strain that’s resistant to antibiotics. It took both teams just three days to complete the work on the bench-top DNA sequencer.
Source: Life Technologies
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