In a prior APHLTech blog post (NGS in Action: FDA’s Genome TRAKR Network), Victor Waddell of the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory described the newly formed network of laboratories formed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Known collectively as Genome TRAKR, the member laboratories perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) on bacterial foodborne pathogens isolated primarily from food and environmental sources.
On September 1, 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began a partnership with the FDA GenomeTRAKR network to utilize the network to conduct WGS of all Listeria monocytogenes collected from reported human illness cases in the United States. This effort leverages public health resources to evaluate and potentially move this promising new technology forward for more routine use in public health laboratories nationwide.
FoodWorld 