The new analytical flourishes in the coming years and, therefore, provide
The new analytical flourishes in the coming years and, therefore, provide a stable foundation for future implementation in microbial forensics. If methods are validated within the framework outlined here, microbial forensics will achieve an ever higher level of power and analytical value and, ultimately, greater protection for the public and the nation’s safety and security.Abbreviations bp: base pair; FN: false negative; FP: false positive; HTS: high throughput sequencing; IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; QA: quality assurance; RMs: reference materials; SMRT: single molecule real time; SNPs: single nucleotide polymorphisms; SOPs: standard operating protocols; SWGMGF: Scientific Working Group for Microbial Genetics and Forensics. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Ethics: No IRB approval was required for this work. Authors’ contributions BB and SM conceived and developed the topic and wrote the majority of the manuscript; NC, AB, RC, CC, JF, MF, DK, AM, SAM, RM, AS, SS, KT and ST provided input and review. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Financial disclosure The affiliated primary institutions and agencies PubMed ID:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28549975 supported this study by providing salaries for the authors. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Author details 1 Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, Institute of Applied Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. 2Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research (CEGMR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 3Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Center for Biodefense, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA. 4 Department of Epidemiology, The General K. Kaczkowski Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Warsaw, Poland. 5CosmosID? 387 Technology Dr, College Park, MD, USA. 6Maryland Pathogen Research Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. 7University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. 8 Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. 9Bioforensics Assay Development and DiagnosticsSection, Science Technology and Core Services Division, National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. 10Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. 11National Institute for Microbial Forensics Food and Agricultural Biosecurity, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA. 12Division of CBRN Defence and Security, Swedish Defence Research Agency, Ume? Sweden. 13Signature Science, LLC, Austin, TX, USA. 14 University Hospital for Infectious Diseases “Fran Mihaljevic” and Medical School University of Rijeka, purchase LT-253 Zagreb, Croatia. 15Division of Foodborne,Budowle et al. Investigative Genetics 2014, 5:9 http://www.investigativegenetics.com/content/5/1/Page 15 ofWaterborne, and Environmental Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia. 16Virginia Tech, National Capital Region, Arlington, VA, USA. 17 Department of Forensic Medicine, Hjelt Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 18Public Health Sciences, Bioinformatics Core Director, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA. Received: 8 May 2014 Accepted: 9 Ju.