The evolution of diagnostics
On Sunday 12 February 1809, Charles Robert Darwin was born; a British naturalist who would become famous for his contribution to science and theories of evolution. During 1829 while studying a Bachelor of Arts, he began eagerly collecting beetles, with some of his findings published in Stephens' Illustrations of British Entomology.
Step forward 200 years and Darwin's legacy into diagnostics continues with the launch of two unique web-based tools which quickly and accurately identify plant pests and diseases threatening Australia.
On Thursday 12 February 2009, Mrs Lois Ransom, Australia's Chief Plant Protection Officer launched the CRC's Plant Biosecurity Toolbox and Biosecurity Bank at Melbourne's Immigration Museum.
During her speech, Mrs Ransom recognised these diagnostic tools have the potential to save Australian agriculture millions of dollars in lost production caused by plant pests and disease incursions, and will also help demonstrate Australia's high plant health protection standards to world trade partners.
Both projects are world-class plant pest diagnostic tools and two of the first outputs from the CRC's research portfolio. The Plant Biosecurity Toolbox includes photographs and details of pests (including the symptoms and damage they cause) and links them to information and instructions on a range of diagnostic tests to confirm the pest's identity.
Closely linked to the toolbox, the Biosecurity Bank enables researchers to locate and order DNA samples and clones of interest to develop and validate diagnostic tests and for biodiversity and genomics research.
Over 100 guests representing industry and Australia's plant biosecurity community witnessed the web-tools in action when CRC project leaders, Dr Gary Kong and Dr Andrew Geering took to the stage. Gary and Andrew demonstrated how Australia's diagnostic network can use these tools to rapidly and confidently confirm if an organism is a threat to Australian agriculture. At the conclusion of formalities, guests were able to use one of the laptops around the room to try the web-tools for themselves.
Plant pest and disease diagnostics is based on identifying characters and features, the very things Darwin observed in developing his theory of evolution. While Darwin spent considerable time drawing and keeping journals, it's possible that (on what would have been his 200th birthday) he would have been impressed with the evolution of diagnostics.
The Plant Biosecurity Toolbox and the Biosecurity Bank will continue to be populated with characters and features of high risk plant pests. The continued growth of these tools will help diagnosticians quickly identify new incursions and respond to future challenges in the battle between pathogen and host.
Dr Andrew Geering, Project Leader for the Biosecurity Bank explains its features to the audience.
Dr Gary Kong, Project Leader for the Plant Biosecurity Toolbox answers questions from the launch's MC, Ms Bernie Hobbs.
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