I am trying to mimic a wound/pus/abscess matrix to spike in reference pathogens to test a PCR method I have developed. Unfortunately, I don't have access to any sterile pus/abscess/wound samples as a background matrix. Does anyone know of any companies/collaborators through which I can get this sample matrix to perform my experiments? Alternatively, does anyone know of how I can simulate this matrix artificially?
I think you're asking for the impossible here. Sterile pus is a really a contradiction in terms; however, gamma-irradiated pus would probably work, and if it is irradiated hard enough, any bacterial DNA would probably be broken down. Don't try autoclaving it - it would probably set hard.
Whether anyone can supply such a material is another question. An oncology unit might possibly have access to a sufficiently intense radiation source and a source of pus.
Good luck
Andrew
Thank you for the recommendations Andrew. I just wanted to update this thread. We ended up using human bio-fluids as our matrix (i.e. synovial fluid, pleural fluid, and peritoneal fluid, CSF, etc.). These can be purchased commercially from Discovery Life Sciences and some of them have already been characterized!
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