Free DNA partially clarifies discrepancies between qPCR and the conventional phage quantification method

• Saar Van Overfelt,

  Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft

  Affiliations Research Centre Health and Water Technology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Ghent, Ghent, Belgium, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Laboratory Bacteriology Research (LBR), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

  https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8245-1590

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• Hans Duyvejonck,

  Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

  Affiliations Research Centre Health and Water Technology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Ghent, Ghent, Belgium, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Laboratory Bacteriology Research (LBR), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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• Femke Baeke,

  Roles Investigation, Methodology, Visualization

  Affiliations VIB BioImaging Core, Ghent, Belgium and VIB Center for Inflammation Research, VIB, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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• Riet De Rycke,

  Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

  Affiliations VIB BioImaging Core, Ghent, Belgium and VIB Center for Inflammation Research, VIB, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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• Maya Merabishvili,

  Roles Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing

  Affiliation Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Technology (LabMCT), Burn Wound Center, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

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• Stefan Vermeulen,

  Roles Funding acquisition, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

  Affiliation Research Centre Health and Water Technology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

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• Piet Cools,

  Roles Supervision, Writing – review & editing

  Affiliation Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Laboratory Bacteriology Research (LBR), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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• Mario Vaneechoutte,

  Roles Funding acquisition, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

  Affiliation Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Laboratory Bacteriology Research (LBR), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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• Els Van Mechelen

  Roles Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

  * E-mail: els.vanmechelen@hogent.be

  Affiliation Research Centre Health and Water Technology, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Ghent, Ghent, Belgium

  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8446-6227

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