A device using mass spectrometry technology that can identify microorganisms in under a minute, is being piloted by biosecurity scientists to more rapidly identify high-risk plant pathogens and mosquitoes intercepted at Australia's borders.
Presenting like a slimline coffee machine, the MALDI Biotyper® was purchased from a German science equipment group as part of the Australian Government's $22.2m, four-year program to build plant biosecurity diagnostic capabilities.
Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud said this technology is a potential game changer - giving definitive results faster and reliably.
"We will be piloting the MALDI Biotyper® at our Sydney laboratory on a range of pests such as mosquitoes and other organisms detected at airports, seaports and other entry points.
"Using this technology we will be able to determine the unique fingerprint of a pest," Minister Littleproud said.
"This can then be compared against a vast reference library to identify the pest.
"The MALDI Biotyper® adds to the growing suite of high-tech tools available to our scientists and biosecurity officers to allow them to get on with the job of protecting our border.
"Variations of this technology are used in New Zealand, in hospitals in Canberra and Sydney for rapid diagnosis and in the veterinary and food safety sectors - we now have opportunity to see how it works on biosecurity threats."
MALDI stands for Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation. The MALDI Biotyper® has access to over 10,000 unique fingerprints, with 3,893 species of microorganisms currently in its reference library. This number is growing steadily with use, especially in biosecurity.
Images of DAWE scientists using the MALDI Biotyper® available here
