NSW DPI Laboratory Services
Biosecurity Matters
 
 

Spring edition, September 2017

 
 
 
 
Message from the Director
 
Mel Gabor
 
 

Welcome to Spring! NSW DPI Laboratory Services continues to be busy as we welcome new staff, consolidate our services and undertake disease testing and investigation.

 

In particular, our website continues to develop and I encourage you to visit and provide feedback on the information provided.

 

We have welcomed new staff in Customer Services with Peter Wakeling providing leadership as the Team Leader Customer Services. We are also very pleased to complete the Pathology Services Team with our new Coordinator Diagnostic Pathology, Dr  Leah Manning.

 

Finally, ensuring a sound understanding of the new Biosecurity Legislation is an important first step in meeting your biosecurity obligations. I urge you to take the time to find out more information by following the links provided.

 

Mel 
 
 
 
 
 
IN THIS ISSUE:
 

Message from the Director
Laboratory website 

At the scope

Technical talk

Labs about town

  • Supporting trade in Japan
  • ACARE Conference

New Staff Appointments

Specimen Reception
Laboratory links

Two minutes with a team member

Social media
 

 

KEEP IN TOUCH

1800 675 623
laboratory.services@dpi.nsw.gov.au

 

Test by species
 
Laboratory website
 
 

The NSW DPI Laboratory Services website continues to be developed with a customer-centric focus. The website provides customers and stakeholders with easily accessible information that is accurate, relevant and current.

 

To assist in test selection, you are able to locate tests via our species list. A comprehensive test list is available under each species link. 

 

As we continue to build a website that is serviceable to all users, we encourage you to send us your feedback. Please complete the online feedback form located on the Customer Service page, so that we can continue to improve this service.
 

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At the scope
 
Entomology Diagnostics all a 'Buzz"
 
 

Orange Agricultural Institute hosts the Biosecurity Collections Unit (BCU), the centre for entomology diagnostics in NSW. Our team provides NATA accredited diagnostic testing, surveillance and research services across a range of primary industry sectors of relevance to both NSW and Australia. 

Working hand in glove with the Plant Health Diagnostic Service, our primary focus is plant health but we also provide a range of services to other sectors. BCU also provide services for vouchering of insect, mite and plant disease samples. The importance and value of vouchered samples as the ‘gold standard’ for international trade negotiations in agricultural produce is recognised by the recent NSW DPI departmental policy.

 

BCU collections hold over half a million voucher specimens and we provide data of the identity and occurrences of pests and diseases via a number of digital portals that are used for state and federal trade negotiations and risk analyses. These collections are also a repository for diagnostic references, biodiversity inventory, the subject of scientific research and a valuable to tool for mentoring and extension. The viable long term storage and management of biological samples (both specimens and DNA) of insects, mites, fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes impacting upon man is important to NSW, indeed Australia, and is covered by ISO 9001 accreditation of this 120 year old $100m asset.

 

For further information on insect diagnostics please email: biosecurity.collections@dpi.nsw.gov.au
 
 
Entomology services
 

Following are a range of activities, projects, and areas of expertise covered by BCU staff:

  • General identification of insects and mites (Morphological and molecular diagnoses)
  • Specialist bee and bee pest diagnostics
  • Fruit fly identification and surveillance
  • Identification of insects and mites of Veterinary concern
  • Internationally recognised specialist expertise in the identification of Whiteflies, Eriophyoid mites, Beetles, Leafhoppers and Planthoppers.
  • Diagnostic and surveillance support for emergencies like Red Imported Fire Ants, Small Hive beetle, Horse influenza etc
  • Biology of Lucerne seed wasp
  • Phylogenetic inference

 

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Technical talk
 
Johne's Disease testing
 

From July 1 2017 new legislation was introduced with the phasing out of MAP for cattle and the introduction of the Johne's Beef Assurance Score (J-BAS)

 

NSW DPI Laboratory Services can provide testing to support maintenance of assurance scores and has a suite of tests available to support producers in meeting the requirements:

  • Johne's disease antibody ELISA
  • Johne's disease individual faecal and tissue culture
  • Johne's disease pooled faecal culture (PFC)
  • Johne's disease herd environment culture (HEC)
  • Johne's disease high throughput PCR (HTJ)

Further testing information, a comprehensive test list, and links to Animal Health Australia documents can be located on the NSW DPI Laboratory Services website.

 

Consultation with a veterinarian is important to select the appropriate test for individual producer J-BAS and Dairy Score requirements. Please contact your local veterinarian.

 

 

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Labs about town
 
 
Supporting trade in Japan
 

On invitation from Japan and funded by the Japanese and the Australian Governments, our Team Leader Laboratory Services, Brendon spent a week working with Japanese scientists on post-arrival testing of animals exported to Japan, with a focus on technical compatibility of the high through-put  Johne's disease (HTJ) PCR. 

Discussions were held to clearly define the objectives of the international collaborative visit, understanding how this test is undertaken in Australia and Japan, the current situation with market access of Australian live breeder cattle to Japan and the development of strong relationships. Laboratory Services will be reciprocating the hospitality by hosting Japanese scientists shortly. A large amount of high priority laboratory testing preceded Brendon's visit with a massive effort by our Molecular Genetics and HTJ teams.

 

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The Australian Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Ecology (ACARE) conference
 

ACARE held its first conference in the Barossa Valley in July.  Representatives from all the veterinary diagnostic laboratories throughout Australia were in attendance, including technical officer Zoe Cook from our Bacteriology lab. The conference was a rare and valuable gathering of those most directly involved in Veterinary antibiotic sensitivity across the country.

 

The focus was the urgent need to achieve consensus on the methods used and reporting standards of sensitivity testing in and across both the production and small animal veterinary industries.

 

The development of a cost-effective antimicrobial resistance monitoring program was a key focus of the workshops. 


There was a strong emphasis on the “one health” concept.  With critical importance being the ability to incorporate both veterinary and medical sensitivity data.  Accurate monitoring, reporting, and epidemiological studies must be interchangeable between the medical and veterinary fields to be informative and beneficial to the alarming emergence of increasing multi-drug resistant strains in both sectors.


As an additional feature of looking into sensitivity testing methods, feedback is being sought from the ACARE group regarding the use of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing and if this is in demand in the field.  (Any comments or opinions are welcome).


The conference provided a very valuable networking opportunity and highlighted the need to encourage and promote antibiotic testing to not only provide correct treatment but allow for monitoring of trends of increasing resistance.

 

The CDS Antibiotic Susceptibility Test. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://cdstest.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/00aMan2.jpg: www.cdstest.net

 

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New Staff Appointments
 
 
Peter Wakeling, A/Team Leader Customer Services
 

Peter joins us as the Acting Team Leader Customer Services. Peter has a  background in customer service roles varying from Hotel Management, Business Development Management and various other customer service roles which offers a diverse, enthusiastic and fresh approach to our CSU (Customer Service Unit) and SR (Specimen Reception).

 

 

Already Peter has identified that the greatest asset any business can have is the correct personnel and is initiating an ongoing training program to increase the service capabilities of the team and personal development for them.

Peter looks forward to continuing his own professional and personal development with the great team at EMAI and was quoted as saying” it’s wonderful to see so many people that are passionate, proud, enthusiastic and  genuinely enjoy the work they are doing and the people they do it with”.

 

 
 
Leah Manning BVSc (hons), MANZCVS (Pathology and small animal internal medicine), Coordinator Diagnostic Pathology Services
 

Leah is a graduate of the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (Hons).

 

She has undertaken research assessing the role of cytology and histopathology in diagnosing canine and feline liver disease and is a member of the Small Animal Medicine and the Pathology chapters of the Australian and New Zealand Scientist. 

Leah has recently finished a residency at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, USA and sat her American College of Veterinary Pathology board exams in August before returning to Australia.
Leah joins the pathology team as Coordinator, Diagnostic Pathology Services, managing cases principally from veterinarians in private practice across NSW

 

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Specimen Reception
 
Help us help you
 
 

In order to assist us in efficiently processing your submissions and minimise any delays in the processing of your samples, please make sure each submission contains the following:

Specimen advice forms, additional key-lists and collection guides can be located on the Sample Submission page of the NSW DPI Laboratory Services website
 
 
 

Instructional videos for collecting and submitting samples

 

To ensure that your samples are received in the best possible manner NSW DPI Laboratory Services has prepared 4 videos to assist in collecting and submitting samples for veterinary testing, including dangerous goods. The videos can be located on our website under 'Submit Sample' or follow the links below:

 

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Laboratory links
 

From July 1, 2017, the Biosecurity Act 2015 was implemented.

 

Biosecurity is a shared responsibility between the public, industry and government. The objective of the act is to provide frame work and strategy to prevent and manage biosecurity risks from animal, plant pests and diseases and weeds 

 

For more information about biosecurity legislation go to http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/biosecurity-legislation

 
Biosecurity Act Youtube
 
Biosecurity Act 2015 - Learn more
 
How does Biosecurity affect you.
 
How the Biosecurity Act might affect you.
 
 

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Two minutes with a team member
 
Chris Wrightson
 
 

Take two minutes to meet Chris Wrightson.

 

Chris is our Coordinator Laboratory Technology. We keep him extremely busy providing support services to teams from Orange to Wagga to Wollongbar while ensuring that our laboratory technology is current, functional and innovative.

 

 

 

 

Professional background:

I graduated from Wollongong University in 2010 with a B Science honors, studied Unix server systems while completing my degree. I completed the Graduate Program in Biosecurity in 2014 focusing on systems. I have been with Lab services since the end of the graduate program and began my current role at the beginning of 2017.


What the best part of your job? 

I do enjoy the challenges and working with different people from all over the state, from chemistry to ELISA's and qualitative data....it's all fun!


If you woke up tomorrow as an animal, what animal would you choose to be and why?

A sloth. It's self-explanatory really :) 


What is one goal you would like to accomplish during your lifetime?

I'm a natural Adventurer so I have my sights set on Everest 


What do you enjoy doing in your downtime?

Simple pleasures. I love heading to the beach with the family


What is your favourite office machine and why?

The server...it's my life

 

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