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​John is the technical director of New Zealand company, dnature diagnostics & research Ltd. The laboratory side of dnature (= DNA in a range of nature) develops molecular diagnostic assays mainly in the primary industry area.
Since dnature started in 2010, John has developed a number of tests, such as the first test to differentiate strains of a devastating kiwifruit disease using high resolution melting analysis, before launching a duplex qPCR to detect the virulent strain of PsaV  - a test that is still the industry standard in New Zealand, Chile and other countries.
Since then he has developed tests for shellfish diseases and more recently, new tests to discover bee pathogens. The latest test is a triplex qPCR to specifically detect and differentiate the highly valuable manuka honey from other floral sources.
John has written a number of papers and book chapters on qPCR and high resolution melting, given training lectures for companies, talks at conferences and is a currently a member of the Apiculture NZ Research group.

​John will be presenting on:
Development of a dual target qPCR assay for American Foulbrood in bees, honey and hives.