diagnostics


Sherlock Bio gets Emergency Use Authorization for CRISPR-based Diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2

It was about a year ago that I highlighted here some neat graphene technology out of Cardea Biosciences, and in that context I mentioned CRISPR-based diagnostics. (If interested, you can find the post here.) The FDA recently approved under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Sherlock BioSciences’ SARS-CoV-2 Rapid diagnostic (FDA EUA […]

Screencap of http://sherlock.bio announcement of EUA approval

Sample map of Santa Clara County

Study suggests SARS-CoV-2 exposure is 50 to 85 times the COVID-19 cases in Santa Clara 2

One of the first serosurvey results from Santa Clara county in California reports 48,000 to 81,000 people infected, 50-fold to 85-fold more than the number of confirmed cases. Living through a pandemic while under lockdown order, with schools and routines and social events and music concerts and movie theaters and […]


NIH starts serological survey testing anti-SARS-CoV-2 among the US population 2

Using both traditional blood draw and an innovative home-collection device, the NIH recruits 1000 healthy volunteers nationwide The SARS-CoV-2 virus (otherwise known as coronavirus, the causative virus of COVID-19 disease currently rampaging worldwide) is a difficult pathogen to battle. While clearing out my bursting-at-the-seams ‘downloads’ folder on my computer this […]


German Karneval goer ready to party

Serological testing in Germany shows resistance to coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 at 14 percent 3

First preliminary results from widespread IgA/IgG SARS-CoV-2 resistance antibody testing in Heinsberg Germany Being an active research scientist or having a life science research background during a once-in-a-lifetime worldwide epidemic is a remarkable thing. Whether reading pre-prints on MedRxiv or looking into the latest news of the day or reading […]


#AMP2017

Thoughts from the Association of Molecular Pathology conference #AMP2017

John Iafrede (Massachusetts General Hospital, MA) “There is a tidal wave of cell-free approaches; little performance testing; and the big question is who is going to pay for it.” This year’s Assocation for Molecular Pathology was held in Salt Lake City, Utah from November 15-18, 2017. (You can find the […]


A Revolution in Prenatal Diagnostics 3

Every mother-to-be who has what is considered an ‘at-risk’ pregnancy is informed of the risks to the fetus of a genetic abnormality. ‘At-risk’ can involve a long list of medical conditions (diabetes or cancer for example) or poor health choices (illegal drug use or smoking). Yet a common cause of […]