Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Regulatory and Forensic Applications of DNA Barcoding course

As promised earlier yet another announcement for a new online course. The third course developed by us and the Open Education group on the University of Guelph campus revolves around the use of DNA barcoding in regulatory and forensic science:

Regulatory science can benefit from barcoding technology to give precise identification to the species level of traded commodities, as well as preserving identity chains where close substitutes or counterfeits disrupt economics and trust between partners. Barcoding is relevant in these respects to trade associated with forestry, capture and culture fisheries, terrestrial agriculture including commodity crops, fruits and food animals.

In addition to the authentication and traceability functions, barcoding can also serve an important role in the identification and surveillance of pests. It may even be possible to use barcoding technology for identity preservation systems traded commodities such as crops where adventitious presence of un-approved varieties threatens trade and brings the risk of economic loss.

This 6-week program will provide an overview of the state of current technology and the various platforms used. It consists of a series of online lectures and research exercises introducing different aspects of regulatory and forensic DNA barcoding research. There will be a strong emphasis on case studies and support for protocol/standard operating procedure adaptation and development. 

We are also collaborating with researchers of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in order to design a course that is as close to the needs of the regulatory and forensic communities as possible.

Registration for the first offering (October 31 to December 9, 2016) is already open

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