star Be part of April 1–30! star
The GenomeTrakr network is the first distributed network of laboratories to utilize whole genome sequencing for pathogen identification. It consists of public health and university laboratories that collect and share genomic and geographic data from foodborne pathogens. The data, which are housed in public databases at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), can be accessed by researchers and public health officials for real time comparison and analysis that promises to speed foodborne illness outbreak investigations and reduce foodborne illnesses and deaths. To date there are almost 50,000 pathogen genomes in the database.