Burton Blais has been a researcher with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for almost thirty years. His focus on the detection of foodborne pathogens has resulted in the application of novel techniques that have been implemented in support of Canadian regulatory food safety objectives. He is currently Head of Research and Development at the Ottawa Laboratory Carling, where he leads a dynamic team of research scientists, biologists, bioinformaticians and graduate students.\u00a0 His current research interests include the development of enhanced analytical capacity supporting regulatory food safety programs, with a particular emphasis on the detection and characterization of food-borne bacterial pathogens using genomics tools.<\/p>\n
Lambert, D.,\u00a0 Carrillo, C.D.,\u00a0 Koziol, A.,\u00a0 Manninger, P.,\u00a0 and B. W. Blais<\/strong> (2015) GeneSippr: a Rapid Whole-Genome Approach for the Identification and Characterization of Foodborne Pathogens Such as Priority Shiga Toxigenic Escherichia coli.\u00a0 PLOS One 10(4): e0122928. doi:10.1371\/journal.pone.0122928.<\/p>\n Geissler, M., Clime, L., Hoa, X.D., Morton, K.J., He\u0301bert, H., Poncelet, L., Desche\u0302nes, M.,\u00a0 \u00a0Gauthier, M.E., Huszczynski, G., Corneau, N.,\u00a0 Blais, B.W.<\/strong>, and T. Veres (2015) Microfluidic integration of a Cloth-Based Hybridization Array System (CHAS) for rapid, colorimetric detection of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) using an articulated, centrifugal platform. Analytical Chemistry. DOI 10.1021\/acs.analchem.5b03085.<\/p>\n Cherifi, T., Carrillo, C., Lambert, D.,\u00a0 Minia\u00ef, I.,\u00a0 Quessy, S., Larivi\u00e8re-Gauthier, G., Blais, B.<\/strong>, and P. Fravalo (2018) Genomic characterization of Listeria monocytogenes<\/em> isolates reveals that their persistence in a pig slaughterhouse is linked to the presence of benzalkonium chloride resistance genes.\u00a0 BMC Microbiol., 18:220 doi.org\/10.1186\/s12866-018-1363-9.<\/p>\n