Enhancing Vector-borne Research with Biological and Molecular Standards
March 05, 2015, at 12:00 PM ETAbstract
Vector-borne diseases are a major public health concern, affecting billions of people worldwide. Due to the complexity of vector-borne pathogen transmission, these illnesses are among the most difficult infectious diseases to predict, prevent, and control. Moreover, many vector-borne pathogens can be challenging to culture, require high-containment facilities, or are on the commerce control list, making them difficult to study. To support the development of rapid diagnostic tools and innovative therapeutics, ATCC has synthetically derived nucleic acids that represent key target regions from a number of infectious microorganisms, including dengue virus, West Nile virus, and Eastern equine encephalitis virus, among others. These standards are quantitated, stable, can be handled in BSL-1 conditions, and don’t require permits for international shipping. In this webinar, we will discuss emerging vector-borne microbial pathogens, molecular and biological products from ATCC that support vector-borne research, and will demonstrate the use of ATCC synthetic molecular standards microbial detection and quantification.
Presenter
David Clawson, MS
Lead Biologist, ATCC
Questions and Answers
ATCC recommends that the synthetic West Nile virus RNA be stored at 8°C or colder, but ships them on dry ice. Are there any stability problems if these are stored at 8°C rather than -80°C?
Accelerated stability studies at 45°C have been performed on this sample, and no degradation was observed.
Does ATCC distribute mosquitoes, antibodies, or other resources for malaria research?
ATCC may distribute some items which may be useful for malaria research, such as various Plasmodium species and associated DNA products. For more resources and information regarding malaria research, please visit the Malaria Research and Reference Reagent Resource Center (MR4) online at www.mr4.org. The Malaria Research and Reference Reagent Resource Center (MR4) was established to provide a central source of quality controlled malaria-related reagents and information to the international malaria research Page 2 community. Materials available to qualified, registered users include parasites, mosquitoes, vectors, antibodies, antigens, gene libraries, molecular probes, and constructs.
I’m trying to culture Trypanosoma. Is ATCC medium 431 suitable for culturing procyclic forms and mammal-infective forms?
The various media, including ATCC medium 431, listed on the ATCC website for cultivation of the different strains of Trypanosoma are all suitable for cultivation of the insect-infective forms (hence the 25°C recommended incubation temperature). ATCC does not culture the blood-dwelling trypomastigote forms. You may be able to find useful information on the cultivation of those forms in the publication: Taylor AE and Baker JR, In Vitro Methods for Parasite Cultivation. Academic Press, 1987. Also, please download a free copy of the ATCC Protistology Culture Guide from our website at www.atcc.org/guides for more information on how to culture protists.
What primer sets can I use with the Synthetic Dengue RNA?
The ATCC Synthetic Dengue RNA was designed and developed to contain key target regions of the viral genome as well as sequences complementary to primers used in the CDC DENV 1-4 Real-Time PCR Assay for the detection and serotype identification of dengue virus as well as the PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2013 publication by Waggoner et al., entitled Single-Reaction, Multiplex, Real-Time RT-PCR for the Detection, Quantitation, and Serotyping of Dengue Viruses.
Where can I find other arthropod vectors for vector-borne research?
The Vector Resource center within BEI Resources currently supplies mosquitoes, ticks, reduviids, sand flies, and snails to qualified researchers. Please visit BEI Resources online at www.beiresources.org.
