For the past three years, rapid testing of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), one of the causes of foodborne illnesses, has been one focus of the Coordinated Agricultural Program (CAP) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). CAP grant researchers specially are developing and testing detection methods for the several STEC pathogens, including O26, O45, O103, O104, O111, O121, O145 and O157, in the beef industry.
One such DNA-based detection method is multiplex oligonucleotide ligation-PCR (MOL-PCR), of which CAP grant researchers Travis Wood, a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, and his advisor, Alina Deshpande, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, led the development and validation. The assay is now in the process of independent testing by another CAP grant researcher.