DGZ Vlaanderen as exclusive laboratory partner of PathoSense for Belux

From 2 May 2023, all PathoSense analyses in the Belux will be performed exclusively in the DGZ lab. This was made official on 29 March 2023 in the cooperation agreement signed between DGZ-MCC-Vivee and PathoSense. PathoSense enables complete diagnosis of infectious diseases in veterinary medicine. DGZ's trusted team will ensure quality execution of analyses and follow-up of reports. The PathoSense team will focus on further innovations to expand the diagnostic tool and support the DGZ team in interpretation with new scientific insights. In this way, veterinarians and livestock farmers can fully benefit from the synergy generated by the collaboration between DGZ and PathoSense.

PathoSense is a recent UGent spin-off founded by Dr Sebastiaan Theuns and Prof Hans Nauwynck in October 2020. PathoSense offers a complete 'sample-taking-to-diagnostic-interpretation' platform for infectious diseases in veterinary medicine via nanopore sequencing (Oxford Nanopore Technologies). Through a patented new swab, veterinarians can easily collect samples and immediately purify the pathogens in the sample. Registration of the analysis is done via an intuitive mobile app. As the platform uses metagenomic analysis based on ad random nanopore sequencing, you do not need to make a prior selection of pathogens to be tested. This allows broad identification of viruses and bacteria to be performed in acutely ill animals. This analysis can be used for all animal species and thus strongly enriches the already extensive portfolio of diagnostic capabilities at DGZ.

From the beginning of May, PathoSense analyses will be carried out in the DGZ lab, until then the operation will remain as it is currently running. Thus, vets who already have the kit in their possession can continue to use it. When a delivery of the kit is made by DGZ, a transport cost will be charged. No additional cost will be charged for samples delivered to the DGZ counter in Torhout or Lier. Collection of the samples is done via the normal free DGZ courier service. Veterinarians can also deliver samples to PathoSense's sample rig at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. There is no additional cost for this. There is daily transport between the Faculty and DGZ. Other labs that already distribute the kits will continue to do so. They subsequently deliver the samples to DGZ for analysis and reporting.