Guelph, Ontario Mar 11, 2020 (Issuewire.com) - A handheld DNA testing and analysis platform offered by Precision Biomonitoring Ltd. is ready to play a frontline role in containing the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus that has devastated the swine industry in Asia and put producers and animal health officials on high alert around the world.
Precision Biomonitoring’s proprietary TripleLock™ platform is the world’s only rapid, in-situ diagnostic alternative to standard laboratory-based procedures that can take several days to confirm the presence of ASF virus using blood tests using Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) to detect the DNA of the virus.
“TripleLock™ provides laboratory-quality, qPCR results in just 80 minutes using handheld equipment that can be deployed in any environment,” said Dr. Mario Thomas, Precision Biomonitoring’s co-founder and CEO. “Our technology platform is built to withstand rigorous conditions in the field to perform ASF testing from sampling to DNA extraction to analysis on the hand-held thermocycler. Results are available in 80 minutes for immediate viewing on a mobile device and sharing in the cloud.”
While ASF is not a risk to human health or food safety, it is lethal to pigs and has already cost the swine industry billions of dollars globally. Since 2018, it has wiped out half the population of China’s swineherds and spread to more than 50 countries in Asia and Europe, where it was recently detected in feral boars on Poland’s border with Germany.
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OiE) currently suggests two methods of testing for ASF:
- One, a serological (blood) test of specimens known to have been infected. This takes several days to complete.
- The other involves growing a culture from bone marrow, extracting a sample and testing for ASF virus DNA using PCR. This may take up to a week to produce a result.
Both of these methods take too long — contributing to a global animal welfare crisis and a growing economic disaster for the agricultural community.
“Unlike laboratory services that require samples to be shipped where they may be prepared for DNA extraction and analysis, the TripleLock™ solution is mobile and can be employed at any time, anywhere, by anyone with appropriate training,” said Thomas. “By deploying TripleLock™ on the front lines, we can reduce the losses associated with ASF and enable more effective disease surveillance and monitoring to protect domestic swine herds around the world.”
The TripleLock™ test kit for ASF virus was developed in Canada and tested for efficacy in the field in Canada and in Asia. Test kits and handheld equipment are available immediately.
For more information visit the Precision Biomonitoring website or contact:
Dr. Mario Thomas
Co-founder and CEO
Precision Biomonitoring Inc.
info@precisionbiomonitoring.com
tel. 1-226-486-3252
About Precision Biomonitoring Inc.
Founded in 2016 by a team of scientists from the University of Guelph's Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, Precision Biomonitoring Inc.’s TripleLock™ onsite DNA surveillance platform provides early detection of organisms to enable a rapid response. Our customers include any organizations that need onsite surveillance and rapid identification of any organism in any environment. The Precision Biomonitoring team is at the forefront of technological innovations in the genomics industry. Our vision is a world where we can identify any organism on the spot, in an instant, anywhere on the planet.
Media Contact
Precision Biomonitoring Inc. jeff.campbell@precisionbiomonitoring.com 4169300468 Orchard Park Research Centre, Suite 226, 5420 6-ON, Guelph, ON, Canada http://Www.precisionbiomonitoring.com
