Microbe hunting in laboratory animal research

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Genomics
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Nucleic acid diagnostic technologies have transformed microbiology.
• Genomic sequencing enables rapid discovery of new microbes.
• Laboratory animal research benefits from advanced pathogen surveillance.

Purpose of the Study:

• Review progress in pathogen surveillance and discovery.
• Focus on applications within laboratory animal research.
• Discuss challenges in establishing causality between organisms and disease.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent advances in nucleic acid diagnostics.
• Discussion of genomic sequencing technologies.
• Analysis of various assay platforms for viral diagnostics.

Main Results:

• Pathogen surveillance and diagnosis are enhanced by new technologies.
• Accelerated discovery of novel microbes is occurring.
• Strengths and limitations of different diagnostic platforms are evaluated.

Conclusions:

• Advanced diagnostics and sequencing are crucial for laboratory animal research.
• Establishing causal links between microbes and disease remains challenging.
• A staged diagnostic strategy is proposed for viral detection.