MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATICS

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Molecular Diagnostics, Development and Informatics

The Molecular Diagnostics, Development and Informatics (MDDI) section provides a comprehensive range of genomic technologies for the molecular detection and characterisation of clinical,food borne and environmental pathogens. This includes analysis of primary specimens from patients, food, water and environmental samples as well as genomic characterisation of selected organisms. Our services include:

  • NAAT of microorganisms and primary specimens
  • CAR designated confirmatory laboratory
  • Listeria monocytogenes reference laboratory
  • WHO regional reference laboratory for vaccine preventable, invasive bacterial diseases
  • Fragment analysis for genotyping (MLVA for S. Typhimurium and C.difficile)
  • Next Generation Sequencing/whole genome sequencing
  • Sanger Sequencing
  • Phylogenomics
NJ tree
NJ tree based on mash distances MDU collection

The core application of MDDI is communicable diseases genomics. This is the application of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to the characterisation of pathogens for the purpose of informing public health surveillance and investigation of communicable diseases. Employing SBS chemistry on the Illumina NextSeq and MiSeq platforms, our robotic WGS sequencing pipeline can process up to 500 bacterial isolates per week using Illumina paired end sequencing with read lengths ranging from 75 to 300 bases. This is used for resistome detection, identification of unusual pathogens, genotyping and phylogenomics for outbreak detection and cluster analysis. Additionally, we support the research activities of DAMG  with custom applications including metagenomics of clinical samples, population analysis and gene discovery.

We also offer tours of the facility and training programs in Whole Genome Sequencing of Bacteria targeted to Clinicians, Medical Scientists and Epidemiologists. Please contact us for details on future tour and course dates .

To use our molecular diagnostic service or to submit samples for whole genome sequencing please download the relevant Sample Submission Form, complete and return to MDU PHL with your sample as per the delivery address. Further details can be found in our Sample Submission Guidelines . For further information on WGS, sample processing and analysis and for a quote on Next Generation Sequencing services please contact us .