Food Virology Reference Centre for Canada

Research Scientist

Bureau of Microbial Hazards, Health Canada
fepn_rpae@hc-sc.gc.ca

Research Technical Support: Oksana Mykytczuk, Jennifer Harlow

Research Activity

The Food Virology Reference Centre is a joint laboratory reference centre between Health Canada (HC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). It is a resource available to Canadian labs testing clinical, environmental or food samples for foodborne viruses.

Current Activity

1. Testing food samples for the presence of viruses, upon request.
2. Genotype analysis of viruses isolated from outbreak samples to examine potential links between contaminated food products and illness.
3. Validation and publication of methods for the extraction and detection of viruses from food products.
4. Recommendation of methods for the extraction and detection of viruses, upon request.
5. Co-ordination of proficiency panels for the standardization of viral detection methods.
6. Administration of the ViroNet Canada database, to facilitate the real time tracking of strains circulating in Canada. Certification is required for access to ViroNet Canada, please contact Dr. Sabah Bidawid for details.
7. Communication between testing labs to identify point source food-borne viral outbreaks.

Recent Publications

Mattison, K., Grudeski, E., Auk, B., Brassard, J., Charest, H., Dust, K., Gubbay, J., Hatchette, T. F., Houde, A., Jean, J., Jones, T., Lee, B. E., Mamiya, H., McDonald, R., Mykytczuk, O., Pang, X., Petrich, A., Plante, D., Ritchie, G., Wong, J. & Booth, T. F. Performance assessment for norovirus real-time RT-PCR detection protocols. Journal of Clinical Virology, 50, 109-113 (2011).

Mattison, K., Grudeski, E., Auk, B., Charest, H., Drews, S. J., Fritzinger, A., Gregoricus, N., Hayward, S., Houde, A., Lee, B., Pang, X., Wong, J., Booth, T. F. & Vinjé, J. An interlaboratory comparison of two norovirus genotyping protocols: Region C and Region D. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 47, 3927-3932 (2009).

Mattison, K., Brassard, J., Gagné, M.-J., Ward, P., Houde, A., Lessard, L., Simard, C., Shukla, A., Pagotto, F., Jones, T. & Trottier, Y.-L. The feline calicivirus as a sample process control for the detection of RNA viruses from food and water. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 132, 73-77 (2009).

Other Related Links

1. Norovirus
2. Norovirus
3. Hepatitis A and E virus
4. Hepatitis A
5. Hepatitis E
6. Compendium volume 5