Reference number : GC-2017-Q2-00431, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Tabata, Naomi (North Island College), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : British Columbia|Colombie-Britannique, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Engage Grants for Colleges, program name french : Subventions d'engagement partenarial pour les collèges, program purpose english : North Island College (NIC), the BC Shellfish Growers Association (BCSGA) and the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (BC CAHS) will collaborate to develop a rapid screening assay for Norovirus (NoV) in the cultured oyster, Crassostrea gigas, in order to protect human food safety and provide market stability for the shellfish industry in BC. _x000D_
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The technological building block is the adaptation of a very involved and prohibitively expensive RT-qPCR that quantitatively measures the amount of NoV in samples. For practical purposes of screening, the presence/absence of the virus is more valuable as a screening tool and also as an indicator of harvest timing. Therefore, the test will be optimized for high performance and sensitivity with multi-level controls for quality assurance and performing a proficiency panel to evaluate its accuracy. _x000D_
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There are considerable technical challenges associated with the assay adaptation because the virus cannot be cultured on cell lines, rather, a surrogate virus must be used. The use of multiple internal and external controls takes up valuable space within the assay as do standard curves used to determine amounts of virus present. NIC and BC CAHS researchers have a track record of streamlining assays while maintaining integrity of the process, and robustness of the assay._x000D_
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The test will be used as an early warning method for testing oyster samples from British Columbian shellfish growers. The assay will also help answer questions regarding the source, range, and distribution of the NoV in the marine habitat through epidemiological investigations._x000D_, program purpose french : North Island College (NIC), the BC Shellfish Growers Association (BCSGA) and the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (BC CAHS) will collaborate to develop a rapid screening assay for Norovirus (NoV) in the cultured oyster, Crassostrea gigas, in order to protect human food safety and provide market stability for the shellfish industry in BC. _x000D_
_x000D_
The technological building block is the adaptation of a very involved and prohibitively expensive RT-qPCR that quantitatively measures the amount of NoV in samples. For practical purposes of screening, the presence/absence of the virus is more valuable as a screening tool and also as an indicator of harvest timing. Therefore, the test will be optimized for high performance and sensitivity with multi-level controls for quality assurance and performing a proficiency panel to evaluate its accuracy. _x000D_
_x000D_
There are considerable technical challenges associated with the assay adaptation because the virus cannot be cultured on cell lines, rather, a surrogate virus must be used. The use of multiple internal and external controls takes up valuable space within the assay as do standard curves used to determine amounts of virus present. NIC and BC CAHS researchers have a track record of streamlining assays while maintaining integrity of the process, and robustness of the assay._x000D_
_x000D_
The test will be used as an early warning method for testing oyster samples from British Columbian shellfish growers. The assay will also help answer questions regarding the source, range, and distribution of the NoV in the marine habitat through epidemiological investigations._x000D_, agreement title english : Detection of Norovirus in Cultured British Columbia Oysters, agreement title french : Detection of Norovirus in Cultured British Columbia Oysters, agreement number : CARD1, agreement value : 25000.0, agreement start date : 2017-08-23, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)., additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2018-2019)., owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada