Create 2025-06-14-edna-studies.md

Author: warrenlr

_posts/2025-06-14-edna-studies.md

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+title: "Advancing eDNA-Based Monitoring for Biodiversity and Environmental Health"
+category: news  
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+In two new publications, our team and collaborators continue to advance the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for species monitoring, conservation, and ecosystem health assessment—efforts that are increasingly vital in our rapidly changing world.
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+In [Environmental DNA, Langlois et al. (2025)](https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70139) we present a suite of qPCR-based eDNA assays for 125 taxa of significance to North America, developed with input from government agencies, field experts, and Indigenous groups. These assays support species identification across a wide range of ecological contexts, providing actionable tools for conservation and environmental management.
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+In a study published in [Marine Pollution Bulletin, Acharya-Patel et al. (2025)](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.118036), we demonstrate how targeted eDNA testing can be used to monitor the impact of marine pollution in the Pacific Northwest. This study applies quantitative eDNA methods to detect biological signals of pollution exposure in marine ecosystems, offering a cost-effective and sensitive approach for environmental assessment.
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+These contributions build on our lab’s longstanding commitment to developing scalable bioinformatics tools that support eDNA assay design, from unikseq and mitogenome workflows to downstream analytical pipelines. By enabling the development of high-specificity, high-throughput molecular assays, we aim to empower researchers, regulators, and Indigenous communities in their stewardship of biodiversity and ecological health.
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+Together, these efforts highlight the power of bioinformatics-driven eDNA technologies for rapid, accurate, and scalable species detection, reinforcing their essential role in conservation biology and environmental monitoring in an era of accelerating change.
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+[Unikseq is freely available on github](https://github.com/bcgsc/unikseq).