Public defence: Nivedhitha Jothinarayanan

Nivedhitha Jothinarayanan will defend her PhD degree in technology. Her dissertation explores isothermal nucleic acid amplification for automated biomonitoring in aquatic ecosystems.

21 May

Practical information

  • Date: 21 May 2024
  • Time: All day
  • Location: Vestfold, Auditorium A1-36 and Zoom
  • Download calendar file

    • Link to digital participation (Zoom)

    Programme 

    Kl 10.15-11.00 Trial Lecture: eDNA: Origin, history and applications.

    Kl 12.15-15.00 Public defence: Isothermal amplification for enhanced aquatic environment monitoring using eDNA for application in automatic system.

    Assessment committee

    • First opponent: Professor Svein-Ole Mikalsen, University of the Faroe Islands  
    • Second opponent: Senior scientist and PhD, Bjørn Spilsberg, Norwegian veterinary institute 
    • Administrator: Associate Professor Anna Pachol, University of South-Eastern Norway

    Supervisors


     

     

     

     

Any questions?

Nivedhitha JothinarayananNivedhitha Jothinarayanan is defending her dissertation for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences.

You are invited to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.

Summary

Accurate, continuous monitoring (on-site in real-time) is necessary to protect aquatic ecosystems due to their complexity and dynamic nature. In various water bodies in Southeast Norway, Northern Pike (Esox lucius) can be an invasive and thus disrupt the native environment and economy of the habitat. To find these species early, researchers are using and developing state-of-the-art environmental DNA (eDNA) detection technologies.

The common and standardized method, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), is useful, yet difficult to use inside small, automated POC (proof of concept) microsystems because this method requires frequent temperature adjustments during assay testing. Accordingly, the researchers are looking at a simpler, faster and newer method called Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP). Using specific genes, LAMP can quickly detect invasive species and is suitable for real-time testing on-site. Importantly, the LAMP reaction takes place at a constant temperature of 65 degrees Celsius.

However, storage and transportation of materials, such as reagents for LAMP tests, can be a challenge when the tests are to be performed on-site. Therefore, the objective A process called lyophilization (freeze-drying) helps to make the reagents more stable and easier to store inside the POC chip at room temperature for a certain period of time.

Another objective explored is different ways of collecting eDNA samples from rivers and lakes, and methods such as active and passive sampling have been compared. The FORDETECT prototype system has also been tested to gather knowledge on real-time monitoring. This system will automatically both processes and analyze samples to detect DNA/RNA in a liquid sample, helping to provide on-site analytic results.

Overall, this research has aimed to contribute new knowledge to develop new rapid, more cost-effective and contamination-free methods for early detection of harmful invasive species in water bodies to better protect global biodiversity.