Agritech Trade Mission to Brazil
Published: March 28th, 2017
Revised: January 30th, 2019
Sporometrics was selected to participate in the Canadian AgriTech Mission to Brazil led by Global Affairs Canada and NRC-IRAP. The Mission has been organized by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) through the Consulate General of Canada in São Paulo and the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). The goals are to establish industrial R&D collaboration and co-development opportunities in the AgriTech sector between Canadian and Brazilian companies leading to future commercial benefits for Canada and Brazil. The Mission will take place on the margins of the “AgriShow Ribeirão” (www.agrishow.com.br), the largest trade event in Latin America for farm equipment and technologies.
Target contacts will include senior executives, managers, investors, government representatives, service providers, research centres/universities and commercial partners. The Mission will focus on establishing strategic contacts, generating business through meetings and promoting networking tackling priority areas such as Automation of the agriculture value-chain; precision agriculture technologies; management (of the farm & production); traceability (livestock, grains, fruits); grains handling and storage management technologies; pest control; crop monitoring, soil analysis.
The mission will comprise briefings, networking events with the local AgriTech and agriculture community, and partnership development one-on-one meeting sessions with Brazilian counterparts. This mission will provide Canadian companies with a unique opportunity to establish a personal relationship with key Brazilian business counterparts, which is required for doing business in Brazil and will enable further collaboration, co-development and business in the near future.
Group A Streptococcus Outbreak
Published: March 10th, 2017
Revised: February 23rd, 2023
On March 17, 2016, TPH (Toronto Public Health) declared an outbreak of Group A Streptococcus in Toronto’s largest homeless shelter.
The Group A Streptococcus (GAS) bacterium can cause many different infections that range from minor illnesses (strep throat, scarlet fever) to very serious and deadly diseases (post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis) that can lead to flesh-eating disease, meningitis or sepsis.
Although the number of infected persons were declining from the beginning of the outbreak in March to September, TPH were still finding new carriers of the bacterium from routine screenings of both employees of the shelters as well as their patrons. The first attempt to mitigate the outbreak was unsuccessful due to the lack of eliminating the environmental reservoir, the homeless shelter itself – as like with many bacteria, GAS can survive on hard surfaces touched by infected persons.
Sporometrics was pleased to lend our efforts to aid in the containment of this outbreak by determining the presence of GAS in various places to target the problem areas of infection such as the lockers, cots, tables and floors for proper cleaning and disinfection.
Mycobacterium chimaera qPCR [MC]
Published: March 10th, 2017
Revised: March 21st, 2023
Background
Mycobacterium chimaera (M. chimaera) is a non-tuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM) implicated as a causative agent of a small number of infections post-surgery. NTM are common inhabitants of the environment and have been cultured from water, soil, and animal sources worldwide. They are known to be opportunistic pathogens, mostly affecting the immunocompromised or immunodeficient. (more…)
