The method is called qPCR, but because Perkinsea was newly discovered,
there wasn't enough genetic data to make a specific test.
Karwacki, along
with Savage and doctoral student Matt Atkinson, suspected that Perkinsea was killing frogs in Central Florida, but the
researchers needed a way to test for it first.
Emily Karwacki, who recently earned her biology degree from the University of Central Florida,
didn't set out to track the deadly pathogen Perkinsea, but after landing a research spot in Assistant Professor Anna Savage's lab,
she was set with the task of trying to test for the disease.