Training & Events
VALITEST closing assembly
The VALITEST consortium is pleased to announce that the VALITEST closing assembly will be held online on 9 June 2021 from 2 to 5.30 pm.
Objectives
This closing assembly will focus on the highlights of the VALITEST project, how the objectives have been reached and on the experience gained for future research projects. A round table with official and representatives will close this meeting.
Participants
The closing assembly is open to any stakeholder of the plant health sector.
Registrations
For registration and further information (detailed agenda, contributors), please use the following link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3485418188879068175
Launch of the European Plant Diagnostic Industry Association
The VALITEST consortium is pleased to announce that the launch of the European Plant Diagnostic Industry Association (EPDIA) will be held online on 10 June 2021 from 2 to 5.30 pm.
Objectives
EPDIA is being established to ensure the market sustainability of the SMEs by facilitating dialogue with stakeholders and decision makers. In parallel to the establishment of EPDIA, an EU Plant Health Diagnostics Charter describing the quality procedures for the production and the validation of commercial tests produced by EU manufacturers is being developed. This Charter will contribute to guarantee the quality and the reliability of the products to the end-users worldwide. Manufacturers’ adhesion to EPDIA and to the Charter will permit SMEs to increase their competitiveness.
The launch of the European Plant Diagnostic Industry Association (EPDIA) will gather the VALITEST consortium, officials and representatives, kits providers and other associations. This event has for objectives to present the association, the Quality Charter and the EPDIA website. Some presentations by external contributors are also planned (associations, a private laboratory or a kits user, EURL or NRL, Euphresco).
Participants
The launch of the European Plant Diagnostic Industry Association (EPDIA) is open to any stakeholder of the plant health sector.
Registrations
For registration and further information (detailed agenda, contributors), please use the following link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2528800191803156495
Online training activities
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was decided to organize the VALITEST training activities online. Those activities will consist of three webinar series :
- One on the concept of validation
- One on the organisation of Test Performance Studies (TPS)
- One on the guidelines for the development, validation and routine use of High Throughput Sequencing (HTS) tests for diagnostics of plant pests.
In addition to those webinar series, online practical training sessions will be organised on some topics of interest related to each of those webinar series. The number of participants to the practical training sessions will be limited to facilitate the discussion and interaction between participants.
The webinar series and practical training sessions will be organised between January and May 2021.More information and registration
Cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic
Training workshopsThe organization of three regional training workshops is planned in the first quarter of 2021 on the concept of validation in Plant Health diagnostics.
- One event will be organized in Rome (IT) by CREA and NIB.
- One event will be organized in Warsaw (PL) by PIORIN.
- One event will be organized in Wageningen (NL) by WUR and FERA.
Although we realize that you may not be in a position to make any final decision on meeting attendance now, we would like to gather expressions of interest for these workshops. Please note that this is not a pre-registration. We will keep you informed concerning the organization of the training events for which you indicated your interest.
Please indicate your interest using the following link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JVDG9MV
Second round of test performance studies (TPS) – follow up (update)
In early March 2020 and June 2020, the samples for the second round of TPS (TSVW, X. ampelinus, C. parasitica, PPV, Tomato brown rugose fruit virus, Xanthomonas citri pv. citri) were sent to the participants. Between 11 to 34 laboratories from 8 to 18 countries were registered to participate to those TPS. In total, more than 4500 samples were sent.
Table summarizing the main characteristics of the second round of TPS
|
Tests |
Number of participants registered |
Number of countries |
Total number of panels of samples sent |
Number of samples in each panel |
|
|
Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus |
8 tests (2 DAS-ELISA, 2 test for on-site detection, 1 conventional RT-PCR and 3 real-time RT-PCRs) |
21 |
12 |
70 |
22 |
|
Xylophilus ampelinus |
9 tests (2 ELISA, 2 IF, 4 conventional PCR, 1 real-time RT-PCR) |
12 |
11 |
26 |
22 |
|
Cryphonectria parasitica |
3 tests (1 conventional PCR, 2 real-time PCR) |
11 |
8 |
11 |
20 |
|
Plum pox virus |
3 tests (1 LFD RPA, 2 LFD) |
15 |
12 |
29 |
22 |
|
Tomato brown rugose fruit virus |
5 tests (2 conventional RT-PCR, 3 real-time RT-PCR) |
34 |
18 |
34 |
25 |
|
Xanthomonas citri pv. citri |
13 tests (6 conventional PCRs, 3 real-time PCRs, 1 LAMP and 3 direct molecular tests performed from Immunostrips or WhatmanTM FTA cards) |
18 |
14 |
47 |
24 (molecular tests) or 12 (serological tests) |
Second round of test performance studies (TPS) – start date
The second round of TPS will start in spring 2020.
If you are interested in participating to one or several TPS, please send us an email to contact@valitest.eu by mid-October 2019 at the latest.
IMPORTANT: If you are not a VALITEST project partner and as the project’s budget does not allow any external funding, the participation to the TPS will be at your own cost. As a participant to the TPS, you would receive the evaluation report and you would be associated to the results exploitation.
57th edition of the Paris International Agricultural Show
The main objectives of the VALITEST project were presented by ANSES during the 57th edition of the Paris International Agricultural Show.
Check these short videos made by ANSES in which Mathieu Rolland, scientific officer at the Plant Health Laboratory, and Geraldine Anthoine, Deputy head of the Plant Health Laboratory, present the objectives and some outcomes of the VALITEST project.
Review meeting in Brussel
The VALITEST steering committee presented the achievements of the project at a review meeting in Brussels on the 28th of January. The project officer and the two reviewers were satisfied with the progress made. The deliverables of the first period will soon be made available via this website.
Work continues: the second TPS on 6 different pests is already launched to be performed in spring 2020. Guidelines on HTS are in preparation and will be sent for review to an international group of HTS experts who have volunteered to help the project. The preparation of EPPO guidelines on reference material has been initiated. More work on statistical analyses of TPS results (analysis of TPS 1 results) is under preparation.
A discussion with risk managers on how tests are chosen and how validation data come in the picture, is planned for the next EPPO Panel on Phytosanitary Measures.
VALITEST mid-term conference
The VALITEST mid-term conference will be held at the Research Centre for Plant Protection and Certification (CREA-DC) in Rome on the 1st and 2nd of October 2019.
Second round of test performance studies (TPS) – Pests selection
The preparation of the second round of Test performance studies (TPS) has started. Six pests (3 virus, 2 bacteria, 1 fungi) have been selected thanks to the collaborative work of the people from WP1 and WP4. The organizers (ANSES, CREA, FERA, NIB, UNITO) of each TPS has been identified. The selection of the tests that will be part of each TPS is ongoing.
NIB
CREA
FERA
UNITO
ANSES
ANSES
First round of test performance studies (TPS) – follow up
The first round of Test Performance Studies (TPS) has been launched in 2019. For each TPS, samples have been sent to 17 to 32 participants from different countries. In total, 5083 samples have been prepared and circulated to participants by May 2019. Bench work has been performed by the different participants and analysis of the results is ongoing. Results of TPS studies are expected by the beginning of next year.
Table summarizing the main characteristics of the first round of TPS
| Pest | Tests | Number of participants registered | Number of countries | Number of samples prepared |
|
Erwinia amylovora |
5 tests (real-time PCR, LFDs and LAMP) |
32 |
20 |
920 |
|
Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii |
6 tests (real-time PCR, PCR) |
23 |
16 |
460 |
|
Citrus tristeza virus |
11 tests (ELISA, TPIA, Conventional RT-PCR, Real-time RT-PCR, RT-LAMP and ImmunoStrip) |
17 |
11 |
1656 |
|
Bursaphelenchus xylophilus |
5 tests (conventional PCR, real-time PCR, LAMP) |
21 |
18 |
430 DNA extracts 280 spiked wood extracts |
|
Plum pox virus |
8 tests (RT-PCR, real-time RT-PCR, DAS-ELISA) |
17 |
12 |
697 |
|
Fusarium circinatum |
6 tests (plating, PCR, real-time PCR) |
20 |
15 |
640 |
First round test performance studies (TPS)
The organisation of the first round test performance studies (TPS) has been started. Mid-January potential partners have been invited for the different test performance studies. The selection of the participants based on pre-defined criteria will be finished soon. Each TPS includes several methods and in some cases several tests per method. Preliminary studies for the selection of these tests will be finished at the end of February.
The following methods are included in the TPS organized in this first round. A second round on other pests will be organised in 2020.
- Erwinia amylovora: real-time PCR, LAMP, LFD
- Pantoea stewartii: PCR, real-time PCR, LAMP
- citrus tristeza virus: RT-PCR, real-time PCR, LAMP, ELISA, Immunoprinting, LFD
- plum pox virus: RT-PCR, real-time RT-PCR, ELISA
- Fusarium circinatum: Plating, PCR, real-time PCR
- Bursaphelenchus xylophilus: PCR, real-time PCR, LAMP
"Kick-off" meeting EU project Valitest
The kickoff meeting of the EU funded H2020 project VALITEST took place at Anses (Maison Alfort, France) on the 31st of May.
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