Detection and Identification Online Discussions 2019

Distinguished Colleagues,

The Detection and Identification Online Discussions 2019 provides an opportunity to update and share our experiences on current trends in the detection and identification of LMOs and emerging issues in the detection, identification and monitoring of organisms, components and products of synthetic biology. Also open for discussions are the current and existing capacities for the detection and identification of LMOs.
The feedback on these issues will be summarized as a resource for the network of laboratories for the detection and identification of LMOs.
We still have some time and therefore encourage meaningful engagements among participants. The Secretariat echoes the moderator’s invitation to participants to contribute to the discussions while thanking those that have done so already..

Best regards,
Shakirat Ajenifujah-Solebo

Dear Participants,
Many posts in this forum mention the need for capacity building (for example #9996, #9998, #10014, #10015, #10019, #10018, #10026, #10027, #10030).  In reply to the question „Who are the relevant organizations involved in improving global capacity for detection and identification?“ several international organizations have performed capacity building activities in this field in the past.  Among them is the Cereals and Grains Association (http://www.cerealsgrains.org; previously known as AACCI) who together with the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) and other organizations including the European Union Reference Laboratory, at the invitation of local governments have held many workshops on sampling and detection methods over the last 17 years, beginning with a workshop for the USA FDA and “Training Course on Detection Methods for Genetically Modified Organisms in the Food Chain” in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2002.  A workshop was held for FAO/WHO in 2004, prior to the Codex meeting on methods and sampling (CCMAS).  Two were held in Singapore, in which more than a dozen countries participated.  Recent examples are "Sampling and testing methods - focus on Agricultural biotechnology." October 2009 in Beijing and Shanghai; "International Course on Sampling and Detection Methods Applied to Transgenics" in Asuncion Paraguay in August 2010, workshops for the Brazilian MAPA in Belo Horizonte in September 2011, in Hyderabad India in November 2012, in Brazil and Peru in 2013, and twice in the Caribbean in 2016. These 3-5-day workshops consist of a mix of lectures, discussion and hand-on laboratory work, using gel-based, real-time PCR and protein-based methods, as well as a discussion led by local experts of what is required or not required by the Protocol and by local regulations. Examples of these workshops are described in articles in Cereal Foods World in 2015 and 2018.   Some of these workshops were funded by GEF, and all were co-organized with the local governments. An added advantage is that many of these workshops are designed to train local experts who can then further disseminate the knowledge locally.

The Cereals and Grains Association has access to instructors from a number of different backgrounds who are willing to travel and provide workshops (in many cases at their own cost) and has extended an offer to provide capacity building workshops on sampling and detection to the CBD and Protocol Secretariat.  This offer stills stands, and such an effort would greatly contribute to the need to improve the global capacity on detection and identification of LMOs.

Another option is the presentation of workshops or training via web-based tools.  These are now becoming more efficient and useful.  For example I recently gave a one-hour talk on “GMO detection and quantification: how suitable are the tools for implementing labeling and monitoring?“ via Webex to a conference in Accra, Ghana, West Africa.  The Cereals and Grains Association is in the process of preparing a number of such products for use internally with our food chain members, and it could quite easily be arranged by this and other allied organizations to provide such general training remotely.  Such web-based discussions give access to a number of experts that can answer questions regarding appropriate methods to use, and to discuss the issue of detection of gene-edited products.  This could be followed up by local hands-on training of the type described previously in this post.

Citations:
Shillito, R. 2018. AACC International Capacity Building on Sampling and Detection Methods for Living Modified Organism Plants Have Been a Key Resource for Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.  Cereal Foods World, V63, No5, pp 224-225, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/CFW-63-5-0224

Shillito R., and Bridges A. 2015. “Joint Workshop on Detection Methods for GMOs in the Food Chain Held in Trinidad and Tobago“  Cereal Foods World, V60, pp 154-155, 2015 (https://www.cerealsgrains.org/publications/plexus/cfw/pastissues/2015/documents/CFW-60-3-0154.pdf) doi: 10.1094/CFW-60-3-0154

Thank you Raymond for your post (10033) identifying organisations that are involved in capacity building and the opportunities that are available for online and on-site training. And I agree that the initial on-line engagements can be followed up with local hands-on training...they are very key.

This is a welcome insight


Shakirat