Proceedings 2015/039
Proceedings of the national peer review of the Fluidigm® BioMark™ platform: Evaluation to assess fitness for purpose in microbial monitoring; December 2 – 4, 2014
Chairperson: Gilles Olivier and Roger Wysocki
Editor: Ivan Stefanov
Summary
A national peer review process under the auspices of Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) was held in Nanaimo, British Columbia on December 2 -4, 2014. The objective of the process was to provide scientific advice about the suitability of assays based on the Fluidigm® BioMark™ platform, which uses pre-amplification, for large scale research monitoring for microbes in wild Pacific and farmed Atlantic salmon.
Specifically the review assessed:
- The analytical sensitivity, specificity, comparability and repeatability of each microbe assay, as determined in the draft Research Document and presented at the meeting.
- To what level the assay results are comparable across the Fluidigm® BioMark™ and ABI 7900 platforms (as used at the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at the Pacific Biological Station).
- The effect of the pre-amplification step of multiple independent target species on the analytical sensitivity, specificity, and repeatability of the assays. Specifically:
- Whether the pre-amplification step introduces biases in the relative abundance of targets, and
- Whether it generates spurious (false) targets.
- The benefits, limitations, uncertainties and proposed uses of this methodology (including the design and the statistical analyses) for the identified research purposes.
Participants at this meeting included Canadian and international subject matter experts from academia, the aquaculture industry, and government science, including DFO and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Publications resulting from this process include a Science Advisory Report (SAR), a Research Document and these proceedings.
NB: This Proceedings document captures at a high-level the discussions which transpired during this science advisory process. For more detailed and precise information, the reader is advised to consult the published SAR which formally conveys the advice provided from this process, including all formal recommendations. In respect of the various scientific techniques and assessment methodologies, the reader is encouraged to consult the associated Research Document, which supports the SAR.
Accessibility Notice
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