Account
Research & Development
R&D is at the Core of Our Company. Assign our in-house molecular biologists to develop and validate an eDNA test to detect your species, or work with our team to identify a species from a difficult sample. Contact us today to discuss your bespoke and unique projects.
eDNA Assay Design Service
Our Assay design Service can be used to develop and validate a test to detect your target species to the required level of validation.
Choose your required level of validation from the table below, ranging from 1* to 5*****. With some luck, your target species may already have an assay developed to detect, we can let you know the reliability of these assays in these circumstances and further validate where required.
01
In silico
Assay developed for a target species and tested in silico (computer-based modelling).
02
In silico. In vitro.
As above and the testing of primers in vitro (laboratory-based tests), on control target DNA and non-target DNA from samples for specificity.
03
In silico. In vitro. Brief field validation.
As above and testing of the new assay in field sites with known natural populations of target species. Can also be conducted and compared against traditional ecological surveys. Using standard sample collection techniques.
04
In silico. In Vitro. Full field validation. Collection technique optimisation. Recommended level for a single site study.
As above and the testing of primers in vitro (laboratory-based tests), on control target DNA and non-target DNA from samples for specificity.
05
In silico. In vitro. Full field validation. Collection technique optimisation. Seasonality. Where to sample. Recommended level for a multiple site, multiple date study.
As above and for full-scale usability of the technique, our research team can assess variables which can affect eDNA detection sensitivity such as seasonal detection levels, the persistence of DNA and the effect of habitat choice.
Assay Design Consultation
Our team have experience in developing eDNA assays for species such as white-clawed crayfish, signal crayfish, marbled crayfish, demon shrimp, freshwater pearl mussels and the scarce yellow sally stonefly.
Contact our team for more information, or to schedule an assay design consultation.
Metabarcoding (Under Development - Coming Soon)
Unlike targeted qPCR, eDNA metabarcoding offers the ability to detect multiple species or taxa from a single sample. SureScreen are currently developing a metabarcoding service including collection kits, extraction, NGS, bioinformatics and reporting.
Some of the potential future target groups and applications include:
- Amphibians
- Fish
- Mammals
- Invertebrates
- Fungi
- Aquatic plants
- Diet analysis
- Microbial communities