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A test for the presence of selected animals and plants using traces of the genetic material they leave behind could help to protect endangered species.
Prof. Caren Helbing, of the biochemistry and microbiology department at the University of Victoria, is part of an effort to develop a test for the presence of any specific species using DNA the creatures or plants leave in the environment 鈥� for example, in rubbed-off skin cells or on fallen leaves.
鈥淲e can do it with any species which has DNA, which is everybody,鈥� Helbing said in a telephone interview.
The method allows, say, a fisheries biologist testing for a salmon species in a stream to scoop up a water sample for testing, instead of seeking out and catching test specimens as proof of its presence. Or, forestry or mining companies that must test for the presence of an endangered species of salamander, for example, can gather samples of soil to test for the creature鈥檚 DNA.
It means those companies don鈥檛 have to send out surveyors to lift up rocks, logs or other surface litter to capture the salamander of concern, disrupting or destroying the creature鈥檚 habitat in the process.
Helbing鈥檚 work, done alongside business collaborators Hemmera Envirochem and Maxxam Analytics, has been awarded a $185,000 grant. A sa国际传媒 Ignite award, the money was given out by the sa国际传媒 Innovation Council, a provincial agency working to help new technologies reach the market.
Helbing said environmental DNA can help track the movement of invasive species. With a clear picture of the expansion of the range of an unwanted creature or plant, an effective defence can be applied before an invader is established.
鈥淲henever you have a full-out establishment of a species, it鈥檚 generally too late,鈥� she said.
Crucial to Helbing鈥檚 environmental DNA sampling method is the introduction of several innovations that increase the reliability of each test on each sample. Fewer false positives or false negatives are the result.
鈥淭hese innovations have been key to be able to interpret the results with any confidence,鈥� Helbing said.
Another UVic researcher to be awarded a sa国际传媒 Ignite grant is biomedical engineer Stephanie Willerth, whose work was awarded $139,700.
Willerth鈥檚 work, with Aspect Biosystems, uses 3D printing technology to print out human neural tissue.
It鈥檚 hoped the new techniques will lead to the creation of small platforms of living human cells that can be used to test new drugs for incurable neurological disorders, such as Parkinson鈥檚 disease.