Averroes Laboratories (ARL) is able to apply conventional culturing techniques, and develops and uses ultramodern techniques and innovations for virological testing. That enables us to offer a wide variety of tests and studies for cultivating, isolating and identifying viruses, and for demonstrating virus antibodies (VNT). For these services, (ARL) Animal Health uses several techniques, including PCR, virus isolation, virus neutralization tests, ELISA (both antigen and antibody ELISA),and agglutination techniques.
Averroes Laboratories innovates in efficiency and quality
Immunological testing counts for a substantial part of all tests carried out by the Averroes Laboratories (ARL). Most Molecular tests are carried out automatically by robots. For some virus infections, ARL uses DIVA technique in ELISA that can distinguish between antibodies that have developed against vaccine virus or against field virus. This makes a major contribution to control programmes that use vaccination.
Molecular-Biological testing
PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is a molecular-biological technique that can very specifically demonstrate the presence of a small amount of pathogenic organisms (viruses or bacteria). The principle of the PCR test is based on propagation of a specific genome section (DNA or RNA) in a test sample. Eventually, the reaction results in a large quantity of a DNA fragment with a length and base sequence that are characteristic for the pathogenic organism in question. Averroes Laboratories (ARL) routinely uses various PCR tests, in many cases developed in our own R&D lab or in cooperation with other institutes. Real-time PCR technique and robotic real-time iiPCR technique are other options offered by ARL. The reaction progress can be observed directly (real-time), and the results are available sooner. There is even less contamination risk.
Averroes Laboratories (ARL) will also offer other advanced molecular-biological typing techniques, such as sequences analyses, restriction analyses, fingerprinting, etc in coming future.
Virus isolation
Virus isolation is an effective and specific method for the detection of viruses in many samples. For routine testing, virus isolation is used less frequently now because this method is rather expensive, and other excellent alternatives are available. Nowadays, ELISA and PCR are the commonly used techniques to demonstrate virus infections. Averroes Laboratories (ARL) uses the virus isolation method, e.g. for vaccine efficacy studies and for collecting field strains. The conventional culturing of viruses is also very useful for the detection of new viruses or new virus types.