ISSUE 2017-2

Genetics news from Neogen, a leader in food and animal safety and genomic solutions

Neogen GeneSeek Operations877-443-6489 (USA/Canada) • 402-435-0665 geneseekinfo@neogen.com • genomics.neogen.com

Neogen’s GeneSeek lab is well known for its role in commercial agricultural genotyping, but it also plays an important part in companion animal genomics — particularly for dogs and cats. GeneSeek is a pioneer in genotyping services for dogs. We provide those who offer consumer DNA tests with customized products, which are then analyzed by experts to produce useful information for curious pet owners and breeders alike.

Information that can be provided includes:

• Ancestry of mixed breed dogs up to 3 generations back, to satisfy curious owners and guide plans for health, nutrition and training

• Confirmation of pedigree

• Disease markers for informed breeding decisions or diagnoses

• Trait markers, such as coat color and length, to enable decisions for specific breeding outcomes

A recent example of how our commercial partners translate data for pet owners can be found in the March edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. In the 12 years since the first dog ge-nome was sequenced, the landscape of technology and pet ownership has drastically changed. Researchers have found dogs to be a useful model for studies on diseases that affect humans, like cancer, arthritis and immune dysfunction. In addition, pet ownership is on the rise, and the bond between people and animals seems stronger than ever.

As an organization committed not only to creating a safe, sustainable food supply, but also to the health and longevity of canine and feline companions, GeneSeek continues to make affordable testing solutions available to those who offer DNA tests to breeders and pet owners. GeneSeek’s newest genomic profiling product offers organizations the ability to select markers of interest from a menu of diseases and traits.

In addition to providing affordable access to a wide array of public markers, Neogen has established a partnership with OptiGen, LLC, to access OptiGen’s licensed tests. These tests screen for disorders

GeneSeek’s companion animal products allow greater insight into pet DNA

affecting vision using a single submission, instead of requiring the collection and shipment of multiple samples to various laboratories.

Information on the organizations who offer products using tools from Neogen’s GeneSeek lab can be found on the Neogen website at neogen.com/genomics, under the “products” tab, which includes:

• Orivet Genetic Petcare

• Mars Veterinary

• Genoscoper Laboratories

• Cat Fanciers’ Association

• Parentage testing for various kennel clubs and registries

The outlook is positive for the development of additional solutions for companion animal health at GeneSeek. The future of companion ani-mal health lies in the prediction of common health problems affecting many dog breeds, such as hip dysplasia, allergies and cancer. The ultimate goal is to enable veterinarians to customize their health and nutrition recommendations, prolonging the lives of animals, who are now so often considered “one of the family.”

Burns, K. (2017). Unlocking the genetic secrets of your dog. Journal of the American Veteri-nary Medical Association, 250(6), 580-587.

Neogen’s European GeneSeek laboratory expands its footprint and capacitySince its launch in November 2015, Neogen’s first dedicated European GeneSeek laboratory has gone from strength to strength. In early 2016, it received the Illumina Propel Certification for core and service labs. The Illumina program certifies laboratory best practices and the production of high-quality data on key genotyping and next-generation sequencing platforms.

Since then, the laboratory has expanded its capacity, doubling the lab size and footprint while increasing throughput by upgrading and investing in the brand new Illumina XT platform, the first Agrigenomics lab in Europe to do so. The GeneSeek laboratory is now able to process samples from cattle, canine, poultry and swine. It can do so with any sample type, including hair, blood, semen, swabs and tissue tags.

“As a leading provider of genomic testing worldwide, to have a European laboratory recognized by the Illumina Propel Certification program and running the new XT platform now allows Neogen to provide an enhanced and even more reliable, responsive and dedicated service to our European customers,” said Dr. Gary Evans, business development manager.

Located within Neogen’s European headquarters in Ayrshire, Scotland, the custom-built laboratory is a carbon copy of Neogen’s flagship GeneSeek laboratory in Lincoln, Nebraska, which is the largest of its kind worldwide.

“Genomic evaluation provides livestock breeders and genetic evaluators with the ability to perform more accurate selection decisions,” said Dr. Evans.

“Our products and services are widely used in genomic evaluation systems around the world, with a range of test results available from just a single sample.”

GeneSeek, Neogen’s Lansing-based food safety team and Metagenome Analytics foster a productive, successful partnershipAfter several years of successful collaboration, GeneSeek, Neogen’s Lansing-based food safety team and the Lincoln, Nebraska-based company Metagenome Analytics (MGA) are continuing to further create innovative genomic solutions to help food producers ensure the safety and quality of their products.

The union was first formed in 2013, bringing together the lab expertise of GeneSeek and the acknowledged thought leader MGA. The next year, members from the Lansing food safety team joined the partnership.

Successful teamwork between the groups has made it easier for its members to be productive.

“Each team has its own specialty,” said Dr. Jaehyoung Kim, sequencing scientist at GeneSeek. “This allows for fewer distractions. Each team can focus on its specialty area.”

One of the key developments born of the partnership is Neogen’s NeoSeek™ Salmonella serotyping, which uses next-generation gene sequencing to provide food processors with previously unavailable information on strains, sources and identity of particular pathogens or spoilage issues.

“NeoSeek Salmonella serotyping uses specific regions of the Salmo-nella DNA that can be mapped or barcoded for a serotype ID,” ex-plained Neogen’s Joe Heinzelmann. “NeoSeek leverages a few key ge-netic regions of the Sal-monella genome.”

These genes code for the O-antigen, H-anti-gen and an additional area called the ISR re-gion. The combination of these genes, when identified, coordinates with a Kauffmann-White scheme used in tradi-tional microbiology.

However, because NeoSeek is a molecular serotyping method, antigens that may not be expressed can still be identified and used in correctly identifying the isolate.

Since targeted amplicon sequencing allows for the identification of key genes needed to make a determination of a sample, this approach is useful both for serotyping and in a targeted metagenomics approach, such as 16s metagenomics.

“One of the many merits of this technology is its remarkable turn-around time,” said Dr. Kim. “This method can readily provide data just 3 days after sample submission, whereas it might take weeks with traditional methods.”

As for what comes next for the group, the answer is simple.

“Our efforts are always to help the client ensure that they are putting out products that do not contain pathogens,” said Neogen’s Dr. Edan Hosking. “Some of what we are currently working on for genomics offerings will assist clients with troubleshooting spoilage events, thus reducing the likelihood of product spoiling before its established expiration date.

This goes hand-in-hand with facilities being able to use our services to ensure they have implemented the best sanitation solutions to address their needs.”

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For the latest food safety, animal safety and life science news, Neogen announcements and useful information, check out the Neogen blog

Career opportunities at Neogen’s GeneSeek OperationsNeogen continues to grow as a global leader in food safety and animal safety technologies

Laboratory Tech • Processing and Laboratory Tech • Processing 2nd Shift This position requires a positive, energetic, flexible and hardworking person who works well with group-oriented goals. This person should thrive in a fast paced, high throughput environment with emphasis on quality and time management skills. The position involves reading and following standard op-erating procedures precisely, but also innovation for process improvements.

Good communication skills and Microsoft Office experience are a plus. Work-ers have routine exposure to robotics, low and high volume amplification re-actions and hood work using single and multichannel pipettes. This position requires a Bachelor’s degree in a science discipline or 1–2 years related experience and/or training; equivalent combination of education and experi-ence is acceptable.

Customer Service Support ScientistThe primary responsibilities of this position are to support customer-centric activities to satisfy data needs of GeneSeek clients and to assist with cus-tomer communications. Other customer-related service duties may crop up. Additionally, this position may also indirectly aid in driving the complex sale and marketing of current and yet-to-be-developed genomic and diagnostic products into the agricultural biotechnology industry.

The ideal candidate possesses a customer-centric philosophy, can work with large data sets and can communicate across internal and external channels. This position requires a BS in a life sciences discipline such as microbiol-ogy, bioinformatics, biochemistry, chemistry, genetics, etc. A graduate degree (MS) in animal breeding or genetics, diagnostic testing or genomic analysis is preferred.

For more information on these positions, click here.

Neogen dives into dairy Down UnderNeogen has brought its successful Igenity Dairy Heifer Program to the land down under with the help of distributor Total Livestock Genetics of Camperdown, Victoria, Australia.

“We have a strong portfolio of end-user Igenity products for the U.S. market,” says Neogen’s Dairy Market Development Manager, Laurel Mastro. “The next step is taking the basis of our existing products and adapting them to new markets.”

For Australia, this means putting together the existing GeneSeek Genomic Profilers (GGPs), known for their powerful prediction accuracy and add-on content, with the Australian national evaluation system for genomic predictions specific to the country’s production systems. This process has led to a new product called Igenity Aussie Select. The product will allow producers to select based on important selection indices, such as balance production index (BPI), developed and formulated by DataGene, an organization dedicated to driving genetic gain and herd improvement in the Australian dairy industry.

“We are extremely excited about this product. Genomics is an absolute must for the modern dairy farmer,” said Dr. Shane Ashworth, managing director of Total Livestock Genetics. “We will focus on rapid turnaround of results and meaningful data to help farmers make important decisions. Producers will be able to access this data in a very unique and efficient manner on the Igenity Dashboard.”

Last month, the Neogen and Total Livestock Genetics team took the show on the road and spoke to producers across Victoria and Tasmania about dairy genomics, as well as complementary technologies, such as sexed semen.

Neogen was a proud sponsor of the British Society of Animal Science’s 2017 The Future of Animal Science conference. The BSAS brings together experts from across the globe to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing animal scientists. Pictured at left is Dr. Gary Evans, Business Development Manager, Neogen Genomics.

Upcoming events sponsored by Neogen:

World Angus Forum 2017June 25–26 • Edinburgh, Scotland

International Society for Animal Genetics ConferenceJuly 16–21 • Dublin, Ireland

European Federation of Animal Science Annual MeetingAug. 28–31 • Belfast, Ireland

Mammalian Genetics and Genomics European Molecular Biology Laboratory ConferenceOct. 24–24 • Heidelberg, Germany

Neogen is an exhibitor at:

Animal Genetics and DiseasesSept. 20–22 • Cambridge, England

© Neogen Corporation, 2017. Neogen markets a complete line of food and animal safety solutions, and is a publicly-owned company listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol NEOG.

Neogen GeneSeek Operations4131 N. 48th Street • Lincoln, NE 68504877-443-6489 (USA/Canada) • 402-435-0665 geneseekinfo@neogen.com • www.neogen.com

From the desk of Dr. Stewart BauckAnnouncing our new Data Services Group

Since its inception in 1998, Neogen GeneSeek Operations has been devoted to the mission of providing high quality, affordable genomic data for the agricultural market segments. We are fortunate to be able to serve a number of the leading agricultural genetics organizations in the U.S. and internationally. Over the years, the

technology of genomics has changed dramatically, from the era of simple microsatellite genotyping, to large fixed SNP arrays and now to sequenc-ing applications. As the genomics market continues to diversify and prog-ress, the needs of Neogen GeneSeek clients have also evolved.

Where once we could send results for a few SNP markers via a spread-sheet attachment in an email, we are now routinely providing direct access to our servers for major clients, so they can access their data directly through modern file sharing tools. Where previously we might have fo-cused on a few defect tests or traits such as coat color and horn poll, today our clients use genomics to conduct research, develop products and make breeding, selection or management decisions of plants and animals. Whole new microbial applications also are emerging.

To accomplish their goals, these enterprises increasingly rely upon vast amounts of data and sophisticated analytics, which has placed a much different demand on our requirements for data delivery. Where many of our clients previously wanted raw data, an increasing amount of our efforts are now devoted to downstream data management focused on developing actionable information.

To respond to future trends in genomic data applications and better meet the needs of our customers, Neogen GeneSeek is creating a new Data Services Group within its organization. This unit is a stand-alone and dedi-cated resource for the management of data downstream from genotyping operations. It is entirely “customer centric” and devoted to assisting clients in fulfilling their needs for advanced data services, bioinformatics and ge-nomics platforms.

Neogen GeneSeek is pleased to announce that Sabreena Larson will lead the new Data Services Group and is the primary contact for questions re-lated to your data management. Sabreena previously served as a customer support specialist and supported some of GeneSeek’s largest institutional clients. Sabreena joined Neogen GeneSeek in 2013. She has a BS degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University and an MS degree in biochemistry from the University of Nebraska Lincoln.

Sabreena can be contacted at 402-435-0665 ext. 7112, or via email at slarson@neogen.com.

Like many of us, Danielle Keys needed to get her feet in the mud before she knew her life’s path. As a student at Nebraska Wesleyan Uni-versity, she started on a pre-med track, but ultimately graduated with a major in biology.

Her interest in genomics was sparked by a desire to find light in unfortunate circum-stances.

“Genetics became an interest after my mother was diagnosed with cancer,” she said. “I wanted to make an impact somehow, or be a part of something that could evoke change.”

GeneSeek snatched Keys up right after she earned her degree, and in May of 2005, she started in an office position, with a side gig as a lab technician. By the time Neogen acquired GeneSeek in 2010, Keys had progressed to the role of lab manager. Today, she bears the title of processing lab manager, a role she has served since 2014.

“I think our greatest accomplishments are setting and continu-ously raising industry standards,” said Keys. “We are constantly innovating and tweaking protocols, machines and pipelines to meet the needs of customers and raise their expectations — and our own. We have seen tremendous growth since being a part of Neogen. It takes an innovative, flexible and tenacious team to keep up, which I am very proud to be a part of.”

After reaching further into companion animals, food safety and pathogen detection, Keys envisions that her team will expand beyond agrigenomics in the future.

“There are other spaces we are just starting to reach. The most exciting thing is knowing that we have all the capabilities for success in these areas, using the models we have already worked hard to establish.”

Outside of work, Keys values family greatly, and has four young daughters.

“Every day I leave work for my second job as a mom — and I wouldn’t trade that for anything!”

Featured employee: Danielle KeysProcessing Lab Manager