Blenheim company, DNAiTECH, has won AGMARDT funding to develop innovative in-field diagnostics to fight American foulbrood (AFB) in collaboration with Taylor Pass Honey, who will beta test the new technology.
Honeybees are critical to NZ’s 5 billion horticulture and honey industries. Along with Varroa, American Foulbrood (AFB) is a serious problem for the beekeeping industry. New Zealand is one of a few countries with a nationwide control programme to eliminate AFB.
DNAiTECH’s director Dr Murray Broom says: "for AFB there is no legal or effective cure. Once a colony is infected, burning the hives is the only and mandatory option in New Zealand.”
To save hives, the AGMARDT funding will help DNAiTECH to develop a point-of-care (POC) test that will eliminate the long wait time associated with conventional testing.
"The problem is that traditional identification is very slow, so beekeepers often burn their hives before having proof that the disease is present,” says Dr Broom.
“The remoteness of the hives, often in the backcountry, the logistics of returning to main center, the courier of suspected samples to designated testing labs plus the subsequent testing times and then the beekeeper returning to the infected hives for elimination, mean that the disease may have spread to further hives in the meantime, addressing the problem this way is too slow.”
“If beekeepers suspect AFB, many burn the hive automatically, wearing the economic hit. Getting lab-based testing is just too slow, says Dr Murray Broom, director of DNAiTECH.
“On the other hand, non-compliance is also a recognised problem,” says Dr Broom.
The initial phase of DNAiTECH’s test will be to develop isothermal tests that can be implemented in the field by the nonscientist-beekeeper. The initial phase of the program is hoped to be complete by May 2023.
“We have several exciting innovations that will enable delivery of a POC test for AFB. The output will be proof of concept isothermal diagnostic tests incorporated into laser fabricated prototype microfluidic devices.”
“The AGMARDT funding enables us to kick off this initial phase and is a significant help for us to initiate this programme.”
A subsequent phase of funding will be required to deliver a commercial device and validated test.
For further information contact
Dr Murray Broom, Director, DNAiTECH, 021 429 962, dnaitech@gmail.com
Background
DNAiTECH was founded in 2020 and in late 2020 became located within the Marlborough Research Centre Grovetown Campus. The movement of DNAiTECH into a proper laboratory facility helped fast track its technology development and led to three Callaghan Innovation grants in 2021 followed by AGMARDT and Auckland Council funding in 2022.
DNAiTECH technology is based upon rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnostics using isothermal DNA amplification. DNAiTECH‘s technology is being applied to projects within Agritech, biomedicine, environmental applications as well as being used within secondary education. DNAiTECH's first Agritech application is to develop tests for AFB.