The CCDB has been the primary laboratory contributing to the development of DNA barcoding technology. It supports a global client base with sequencing services. In addition, it maintains research relationships with many institutions with the goal of developing new services and solutions for customer benefit. During its operation over the past decade, CCDB has considerably lowered the cost of DNA barcode sequencing and analysis, improving access to sequencing tools, and also increased the reliability of the employed processes. Through these innovative measures, CCDB has made its services valuable to multiple research initiatives and commercial organizations.
Solutions for Academic Research
Advances in DNA sequencing technology and bioinformatics have significant potential to strengthen environmental monitoring practices. As a pioneer in the field of DNA barcoding, the CCDB is well positioned to contribute to technical advances and is actively seeking co-development partnerships in the area of environmental management. Please contact us for more information about on going project or other opportunities to collaborate. Two global projects demonstrate the innovative solutions CCDB can contribute to this field of research:
International Barcode of Life
The International Barcode of Life Consortium (iBOL) is responsible for coordinating some of the largest biodiversity genomics initiatives ever undertaken. The first project, BARCODE 500K, aimed to generate DNA barcode records from five million specimens representing at least 500,000 species. iBOL’s work has been carried out by a research alliance spanning 26 nations with varying levels of investment and responsibilities. During year 3 of the project, responsibility for sequencing 90% for the entire project was moved to the CCDB.
Innovation: The CCDB developed new methodologies in order to provide an high-throughput service capable of sequencing over 1 million specimens per year. This included sequencing methodologies, advanced robotics, protocol development and physically redesigning the lab to maximize workflow efficiency.
Global Malaise Trap Program
The Global Malaise Trap Program (GMP) is an international initiative with a goal of capturing detailed temporal and spatial information on terrestrial arthropod communities across the globe. GMP couples the use passive traps, that capture thousands of specimens, with DNA barcoding to generate occurrence data. The international scale and the brute-force capture methodology introduced volatility in the sample supply chain required revision of workflows to ensure timely analysis. In addition, having minimal taxonomic information provided on incoming tissues required development of more universal and flexible analysis protocols.
Innovation: The CCDB deployed new methods of automated validation of sequence data resulting from the global malaise traps. These new methods were able to provide a stronger layer of confirmation before sequence data was shared among the partner labs.
Commercial & Regulatory Solutions
| Food Quality Assurance and Control | ||
|---|---|---|
 Food fraud: We can audit stages of food supply chains to confirm validity of species sold |
Food contaminants: Test food for the presence of undesirable ingredients |
Human Pathogen Testing: Testing food processing areas for evidence of FDA’s Dirty 22 species |
| Environmental Monitoring and Protection | ||
|---|---|---|
Water quality: Confirming the identities of stream/river indicator species |
Invasive species: Detecting invasive insect species at port entries. Larval and juvenile specimens can be identified via DNA Barcoding even where morphological identification fails. |
Species Surveillance: We can provide you with trapping procedures to monitor the species at a certain location for signs of pollution, climate change, or human interference. |
| Wildlife Protection | ||
|---|---|---|
Wildlife Crime: Providing the identification of products suspected to be from endangered and/or illegally traded wildlife, as well as providing evidence in poaching cases. |
Exotic Foods: Determining if food products contain species that are locally, nationally or internationally sensitive or unsustainable meats, such as testing shark fin soup. |
Bushmeat: We have a reference library for many species used as bushmeat, which can both spread deadly human diseases as well as reduce natural populations of mammals and other animals in Africa and Asia. |
| Other Applications | |
|---|---|
Bird/Wildlife strikes: There are over 700 species of birds in North America. Our forensic laboratory is capable of identifying your bird or wildlife strike to the species level using DNA from whole or partial animal remains. |
Custom Applications: Please contact us with your species identification needs. With barcodes available for over 180,000 species, the possibilities are endless. |
Pricing
Click here for prices of many common services. For more information or to obtain a quote for your research or commercial project, contact us.
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