Agilent to help create food pathogen genome database

Agilent Technologies is allying with a number of health-related organisations to create a public database of 100,000 foodborne pathogen genomes.

The company will collaborate with the US Food and Drug Administration, the University of California, Davis and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop the new database over the next five years.

Once completed, it will provide information about the origin of various pathogens, while also providing a roadmap for the development of tests to identify illnesses and greatly reduce the typical response time to outbreaks.

The information will be available free of charge and will cover important pathogens such as salmonella, listeria, and E. coli.

Mike McMullen, president of Agilent's chemical analysis group, said: "We see this project as a way to improve quality of life for a great many people, while minimising a major business risk for food producers and distributors."

Last month, the company expanded its operational capabilities by completing its takeover of Dako, a cancer diagnostics business based in Denmark.