Lauren Bradford
Research Associate
| Degrees: | B.Sc. Biochemistry - University of Alberta, 2011 M.Sc. Earth and Environmental Sciences - McMaster University, 2014 Ph.D. Molecular Biology - Technische Universität München/Helmholtz Munich, 2020 |
| Email: | laurenbradford@cunet.carleton.ca |
Current Research
My current research is a joint project between Carleton and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, with funding by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The goal is to establish limits of detection (LODs) for a variety of microbiological and DNA-based methods for detection of Salmonella species in food. Contamination with Salmonella causes thousands of cases of salmonellosis in Canada every year. The CFIA protects Canadians by monitoring pathogens that cause foodborne illness, but their current gold-standard method of detection is time- and labour-intensive. DNA-based methods such as quantitative PCR (qPCR) and genetic sequencing may be effective alternatives, but their use must be validated before it can be adopted by government agencies. In this project, I am artificially spiking chicken gut contents with Salmonella, then finding the lowest concentration of Salmonella I can detect using microbiological and DNA-based methods