LGC has been nominated as an approved genotyping services provider as part of the Irish government's policy to eliminate the disease scrapie from its national sheep flock
LGC has been nominated as an approved genotyping services provider as part of the Irish government's policy to eliminate the disease scrapie from its national sheep flock.
Key to winning this recommendation is LGC's use of specially developed, leading-edge technology (MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry) which it already uses to genotype over 100,000 samples each year in support of the Great Britain National Scrapie Plan.
LGC will deliver its Irish genotyping service utilising the company's facilities in Teddington, South West London, in partnership with Ireland-based company, Oldcastle Laboratories.
Located in Co.Meath, Ireland, Oldcastle Laboratories has a track record as a specialist provider of laboratory and veterinary services to the Irish farming community.
LGC will supply the service direct to Irish sheep farmers who will be able to choose from a short listed selection of approved labs.
This is the first time that an EU member state has approved laboratories from beyond the state's borders to provide a scrapie genotyping service. David Miles, head of LGC's genotyping services, said: "DAF imposed a rigorous selection process.
The evaluation criteria included providing proof of capacity, suitability of our facility and quality of results, both within the laboratory and the company as a whole.
This entailed a detailed review of our chosen technologies, staff skills, proficiency data, quality controls and their own proficiency trial carried out in the presence of a DAF representative." LGC's genotyping facilities have a proven track record in identifying scrapie-resistant sheep; we have been working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for more than two years to help implement Great Britain's scrapie-resistant breeding programme.
The experience behind LGC's comprehensive genotyping operations means we can offer efficiencies of scale that can be passed direct to the customer, the Irish sheep farmer.
LGC has taken several steps to tailor its genotyping services for the Irish farming community.
These include designing a new sampling kit that is easy to use and which complements LGC's lab-based analysis technologies, helping to ensure the fastest result turnaround times possible whilst maintaining accuracy of results and improving control over costs.
Scrapie is a prion protein disease, which affects sheep and goats, and is similar to the prion- protein disease, BSE, found in cattle.
Some sheep are naturally resistant to the disease.
The basis of DAF's scrapie policy is to increase the prevalence of resistant genotypes in the national sheep flock, encouraging its farmers to use the genotyping services available via laboratories such as LGC to genotype their rams.
