Critical Points for the Organisation of Test Performance Studies in Microbiology

Chapter1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Description of the process of TPS organization.- Chapter3. Selection of pests and scope of TPS.- Chapter4. Selection of TPS organizers.- Chapter5. Selection of tests included in TPS.- Chapter6. Selection of TPS participants.- Chapter7. TPS workflow.- Chapter8. Analysis of TPS results data.- Chapter9. Reports and dissemination activities.- Chapter10. Conclusions.

Ana Vucurovic is phytopathologist focused on the research of virus and fungal diseases of vegetables, field crops and ornamentals. She obtained her degree at the University of Belgrade-Faculty of Agriculture. Her main activities involves detection, identification and characterization of plant viruses and fungi, including quarantine and emerging pathogens. Her main research interest are virus disease of tomato, tobacco and cucurbits, and fungal diseases caused by Phytophthora, Fusarium and Alternaria species. She is involved in the WP1 of the Valitest project.

Natasa Mehle is a biologist, with a specialisation in novel diagnostic methods development for the detection of new emergent plant pathogens, the biology of plant viruses, viroids, and phytoplasma, and also interactions between plants and their pathogens. She is a responsible analyst of plant viruses, viroids and phytoplasma for the official detection of plant pathogens. She is also involved in research and detection services for samples from other countries. She is an active member of the EPPO Panel on viruses and phytoplasmas and she is working in the European reference laboratory for viruses, viroids and phytoplasmas. She led several training courses in the diagnosis of viruses, viroids and phytoplasma, and she was involved as a lecturer in several real-time PCR workshops in plant pathology (organized by NIB and Biosistemika). She has also experiences in the management and organization of test performance studies and proficiency tests for international audience. She is involved in the WP1 of the Valitest project.