L2M-Developing detection kits for Deformed wing virus infection in honey bees

Honey bees are very crucial due to their pollination services and plays important role in Canadian economy. Unfortunately, a huge loss in honey bee colonies was seen in recent years due to many detrimental factors including climate change and infections. The viral infections have also played a very significant role in recent crop loses, the deformed wing virus (DWV) is one of such viruses, that causes the wing deformities, paralysis and rapid mortality in the colonies. Unfortunately, there is no cure for viruses infecting honey bees, so the only option is the early detection of viral infections and taking the preventative measures accordingly. The traditional detection methods are very time consuming, costly and inconvenient. So the rapid detection kit against these viruses could be life savior for bees. We are working on the creating a rapid detection kit that can be used buy beekeepers on the fields without any prior professional training for this. They can detect the viral infections on field and can take preventative measures to stop/decrease the spread of infection further in the other hives. In the Lab2Market project, we are contacting the beekeepers from Canada, to perform the field testing and validation of our assay. The main objective of this project is to do customer discovery for market analysis of our kit.

Faculty Supervisor:

Trushar Patel

Student:

Partner:

Edmonton Unlimited

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Public administration

University:

University of Lethbridge

Program: