Diagnostics

Nacionalni veterinarski inštitut

lukam — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 11:05:50 +0000

National Veterinary Institute lukam Tue, 01/28/2025 - 16:14

Dejavnost

Laboratory testing of animal samples, foodstuffs, and raw materials for the diagnosis of animal infectious and other diseases, or for determining the health suitability of animal-derived food, animal feed, drinking water, and other products; conducting pathomorphological diagnostics; performing veterinary hygiene services; preparing professional basis for planning measures in animal health protection and ensuring safe food and feed for animals; monitoring the health status of animals and reproduction through artificial insemination at the national level; monitoring the health status and treatment of bees and fish; and carrying out disinfection, insect control, and rodent control (DDD).

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Healthcare of Bees

Information on current beekeeping practices, treatment, and bee trade, along with advice and reports.

The National Veterinary Institute (NVI) is a specialized internal organizational unit responsible for carrying out public veterinary service activities, which must be provided by each European Union member state within the framework of a professional institution.

Kategorija

Diagnostics

Research

Professional

Slovenci vodilni v prepoznavanju bioterorističnih agensov s sekvenciranjem naslednje generacije

lukam — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 11:15:45 +0000

Slovenians Lead in Identifying Bioterrorist Agents Through Next-Generation Sequencing lukam Mon, 04/06/2020 - 20:46 Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology Diagnostics

With a view to reviewing the current state of countries’ preparedness for the detection of bioterrorist agents using the NGS method – specifically, using for whole-genome sequencing (WGS) method - the United States organisation ‘Secretary-General's Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical , Biological or Toxin Weapons' (UNSGM)’, in collaboration with the 'Danish Technical University' (DTU), organised an inter-laboratory control in 2018. It invited numerous reference laboratories around the world to participate.

Bioterrorism is a threat to national and international security. Classic methods for determining and identifying such agents (e.g. culture assays, PCR) may be rapid and reliable, however, they are targeted and, as a rule, do not allow the identification of specific genetic changes responsible for the level of isolate virulence. With the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS), it is possible to gain insight into the entire genetic material of the studied microorganisms or samples, allowing the species (strain) to be identified and genetic changes (e.g. a dedicated virulence record) to be determined.

The NGS method, however, presents a unique challenge due to the demanding bioinformatics processing of the large amount of sequenced data obtained.

Since the Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine has a contract with the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia for providing professional advice and taking measures in the event of a biological weapons attack, the Laboratory for Molecular Bacteriology also participated in the aforementioned inter-laboratory control.

The aim of the inter-laboratory control was to identify microbial species, thus determining potential deliberate genetic changes (entering or deleting records for virulence factors) and assessing the laboratory's ability to assess biological risk. In a fictionalised (but realistic) scenario for inter-laboratory control, a suspected worker in a microbiology lab left 36 unmarked samples - potential bioterrorist agents. Their genomic sequences were available. What kind is it? Is this species a bioterrorist agent? Was the isolate in the sample genetically modified (GMO) by the suspect and thus affect its virulence?

The participating laboratories had to answer the above questions within one month of receiving the genomic sequences, based completely on their own ideas, and, in doing so, to use any bioinformatic tools and their own professional judgment for this purpose. The test involved public health, veterinary and general microbiology laboratories and laboratories specialising in biological defence. The participating institutions were located globally. Some countries collaborated with several laboratories. A total of 60 laboratories participated. The Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Ljubljana (Bojan Papić, Darja Kušar, Jana Avberšek) performed best among the participating laboratories, with a success rate of 94.3%. Laboratories from China, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, USA, France, Singapore, Belgium, Italy and Australia also performed well with success rates of 82.3% to 91.4%. Most of the participating institutions (44/60) had less than an 80% success rate. The results show that Slovenia is very well prepared for the potential identification of bioterrorist agents using NGS. The overall poor performance of the participating institutions is also worrying and indicates the need to train staff in the field of bioterrorism and NGS bio-information processing.

Smernice za mikrobiološko varnost živil, ki so namenjena končnemu potrošniku

lukam — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 10:27:48 +0000

Guidelines for the microbiological safety of food intended for final consumers lukam Sun, 04/05/2020 - 07:37 Institute of Food Safety Feed And Environment Diagnostics

Together with the National Veterinary Institute, the National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food has produced updated Guidelines for Microbiological Food Safety for final consumers.

As a measure of the adequacy of the production process and food safety, the guidelines are intended primarily for food business operators who produce, process and sell food. They are also often used by retail chain quality services to formulate microbiological criteria as part of their own controls. The Microbiological Guidelines are helpful to anyone involved in the production and distribution of foods and are used voluntarily. They also specify microbiological criteria, which Regulation (EC) No.2073/2005 - with changes - does not address. The guidelines cover microbiological criteria for foodstuffs and surface cleanliness criteria for swabs/washes (including employees’ hands), procedures for their examination and evaluation against microbiological criteria and methods in the annexes.

The guidelines have been harmonised and developed in collaboration with professional services in the food industry. The updated edition of the Guidelines replaces the previous version dating from January 2019.

Download pdf (841.0 KB)

Genetsko preverjanje rodovnikov psov

lukam — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 10:11:09 +0000

Gene Verification of Pedigrees of Dogs lukam Sun, 04/05/2020 - 08:39 Institute of Preclinical Sciences Diagnostics

For several years the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Ljubljana has routinely performed genetic checks on the pedigrees of dogs. The method is well-established and integrated into ISAG inter-laboratory controls and can therefore ensure correct and verifiable results. In 2018 the institute signed a contract with the Kennel Club of Slovenia for the production of DNA profiles in dogs. Thus, the institute is certified by the Kennel Club as an official pedigree checker and can offer you and your clients this service which is mandatory for the owners/breeders of dogs.

The institute is certified by the Kennel Club as an official pedigree checker and can offer you and your clients this service which is mandatory for the owners/breeders of dogs.

Instructions for preparation of samples

The test requires DNA that is isolated from the blood, or it may be taken from a swab of the oral mucosa if blood cannot be drawn.

Blood

The blood sample is taken into an EDTA test tube (at least 1ml). The name of the dog, owner and date of blood collection is written on the test tube.

Swab

Swabs are taken by rubbing a cotton bud on the mucous membrane, i.e. the gums or the inside of the cheeks. They are then air dried.

The dried samples are placed in a clean envelope (it must not be polyvinyl and must be air-tight). When sending samples from different dogs, the cotton buds should be stored in different envelopes. It is not recommended to take a swab from puppies under eight weeks old due to the possibility of contamination from the mother.

On the envelope we write down the name of the dog, the owner and the date that the swab was taken are written on the envelope.

Form

When submitting a sample please ensure you also send a completed DNA profile form with information about the dog, owner, payer and veterinarian who took the sample. The form and the sample should be sent by post or courier to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Gerbičeva 60, Ljubljana, and marked ‘for the genetic testing of dogs’.

Gene Testing Form (456.2 KB)

Results are normally available within 10 working days of receipt of the sample.

The cost of producing a DNA profile for an individual dog is:

28,00 € excl. DDV
34,16 € incl. DDV

We can also send you a test tube with EDTA or a kit for taking a sample.

For more information call: 01 4779 120 (Dr. Marko Cotman).

Institute of Preclinical Sciences

Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Genetics

Diagnostics

Nacionalni veterinarski inštitut

Dejavnost

Regional NVI Units

NVI Institutes

Nacional Reference Laboratories

Veterinary Hygiene Service

Sample Reception

Healthcare of Bees

Slovenci vodilni v prepoznavanju bioterorističnih agensov s sekvenciranjem naslednje generacije

Smernice za mikrobiološko varnost živil, ki so namenjena končnemu potrošniku

Read more

Genetsko preverjanje rodovnikov psov

Instructions for preparation of samples

Blood

Swab

Form

Institute of Preclinical Sciences