Environmental DNA (eDNA) has rapidly transformed from a novel concept into a powerful tool revolutionizing biodiversity monitoring, conservation, and ecological research. Enabled by leaps in biotechnology, eDNA applications now span the deepest ocean trenches to the stratosphere, uncovering life from microbes to whales and even reaching into the past. The field has been driven by relentless innovation—new assays, lab protocols, and analytical pipelines continually push the boundaries of what we can detect and understand.
Yet, amidst this molecular and computational revolution, one critical element often takes a backseat: sample acquisition. No matter how advanced our laboratory techniques become, the integrity and usability of eDNA data ultimately depends on the quality and appropriateness of the samples themselves. As we celebrate technological breakthroughs, we must also innovate in the often-overlooked realm of field sampling—rethinking methodologies, ensuring affordability and accessibility of robust solutions, and recognizing that there is no “one size fits all” approach.
This talk will take a step back from the latest high-tech advances to explore fundamental questions about sample collection. While there is no single solution, it is crucial to foster a dialogue on how we can match the pace of analytical innovations with equally ambitious improvements in eDNA sampling strategies and tools.
Anastasija is a marine scientist with a broad expertise in aquatic ecology, ecology of biological invasions and the development and assessment of molecular tools for monitoring and surveillance. She started her eDNA journey in 2012 in Lithuania, applying molecular approaches to marine non-indigenous species detection, ballast water assessment and monitoring of the coastal ecosystems. After moving to New Zealand in 2014, she had leading roles in many national and international research programmes, projects and field expeditions, conducting experimental and observational studies in aquatic ecosystems employing a range of different surveillance techniques (traditional and molecular). In 2021, Anastasija took a leap from her purely academic career and opened a professional molecular lab Sequench, in Nelson, New Zealand, offering high-throughput sequencing services as well as wider range of molecular analyses and science underpinned solutions for environmental monitoring. In 2023, she was elected a President of the newly established Southern eDNA Society (SeDNAs), which stem from the informal collaboration of motivated eDNA practitioners across Australia and New Zealand and aims to promote science and industry collaboration to advance best practice eDNA methods and their wider adoption nature research and conservation.