How QAID microarray products are shown to work, and what every result tells you about the run behind it.
A quality-assurance result is only worth as much as the evidence behind it. This page sets out how QAID microarray products are validated, what the assay controls on every slide are for, and what a result does and does not establish.
Probes are designed to bind DNA from their intended target and not from close relatives. Specificity is checked by running non-target species against the panel and confirming they are not called.
Sensitivity is how little target DNA a product can reliably detect. It is established per product and per matrix, because DNA recovery varies with the material and how it was processed.
Every slide carries assay controls, and the QAID App checks them before reporting anything. A run whose controls do not meet their pass criteria is flagged rather than reported, so a technical failure is never mistaken for a clean result.
The same sample should give the same answer across replicates, runs, days and operators. Repeatability and reproducibility are measured during validation, as agreement between replicates of the same sample and agreement between runs and operators.
Each QAID microarray product is validated as a product, with the QAID App workflow that reads it.
DNA is not equally recoverable from every material. Milling, heat, extraction and long storage all reduce how much intact DNA survives, and a method that works on a leaf may behave differently on a concentrated extract. For that reason QAID validates each product against defined matrices rather than claiming it works on anything.
If your material is not one a product has been validated on, our scientists can advise on suitability and, where useful, run a small number of samples so you can evaluate the product before you set it up.
Assay controls are the reason a QAID result comes with its own health check. They show whether the sample preparation, the run and the scan behaved as expected on that particular slide.
The QAID App evaluates them first. If the controls meet their pass criteria, the species results are reported with confidence metrics. If they do not, the run is flagged and the App tells you to repeat it rather than presenting a result that cannot be trusted.
Being clear about the limits is part of a defensible result.
A QAID microarray detects DNA. DNA detection alone does not show whether an organism is viable, and it does not establish where a material came from. Relative DNA signal in a mixture shows which targets dominate the signal; it is not the same as ingredient weight. A result covers the targets on that product’s panel, so a species that is not on the panel is neither reported nor ruled out.
QAID does not hold laboratory accreditation and does not claim regulatory approval for its products. QAID App results include the assay controls, confidence metrics and supporting signal data needed to document a result for audit and regulatory review; whether a result is accepted for a particular submission depends on the regulator and on your own laboratory’s quality system.
If you need validation detail for a specific product, matrix or target before you commit, our scientists will take you through what exists.