The technology might sound complex, but the concept is straightforward when you think of it like working with jigsaw puzzles.
Every organism—from beneficial bacteria in your birds' guts to harmful pathogens in the environment—has its own unique genetic blueprint called a genome. Think of each genome like a separate jigsaw puzzle with its own distinctive pattern. When we collect a boot swab from your barn, we're gathering genetic material from hundreds of different microorganisms.
When we perform metagenomic sequencing, we're reading pieces of genomes from all organisms in that sample—almost as if we threw puzzle pieces from dozens of different boxes together and pulled out only a few handfuls. You'd have a confusing mix: blue sky from one puzzle, green grass from another, red barn pieces from a third.
Just like you can group puzzle pieces by color or pattern even when mixed together, we can sort genetic pieces by their distinctive characteristics. Our databases contain the "complete puzzle box covers" for thousands of known microorganisms. Our algorithms compare each piece against this reference library, asking: "Does this match Salmonella? E. coli? Lactobacillus?"
Instead of looking for just a few suspect puzzle pieces, we're identifying every puzzle in the sample—beneficial bacteria, potential pathogens, fungi, parasites, and antimicrobial resistance genes.
Now, we know what you might be thinking: "That sounds like information overload." Seeing everything in your barn's microbial world could feel overwhelming and even like it's creating more problems to worry about. But the key is knowing what to focus on.
This is where our expertise becomes crucial—we don't just dump raw data on you. Our team translates this comprehensive view into actionable biosurveillance tailored to your operation. Think of us as your puzzle-solving partner, helping you focus on the pieces that actually matter for your barn's success.
