The empirical prescription of antibiotics is eventually adding up to the larger problem of Anti Microbial Resistance (AMR). Now, a point-of-care solution leverages the power of nanotechnology and biotechnology for ultra rapid diagnosis of UTI. Module Innovations’ (Maharashtra, India) proprietary SDSAN technology enables it to deliver UTI positive/negative results in jus...
The wearable medical device market is growing at a little more than 27% annually and is forecast to reach a value of $174 billion by 2030, according to business intelligence firm Market Research Future. Given the potential of this technology to provide 24/7 health monitoring and diagnostics on an individual basis, its future growth may stretch well beyond even those numb...
Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has become a well-established tool for the identification of pathogens in a variety of patient samples. Though this technology has been used for bacterial identification for many years now, newer generations of MALDI-TOF MS are quickly expanding the capabilities of this technology...
Understanding the molecular differences that make the human brain distinct can help researchers study disruptions in its development. A new study, published recently in the journal Science by a team including University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscience professor Andre Sousa, investigates the differences and similarities of cells in the prefrontal cortex -- the frontmost...
In San Diego wastewater, the group detected the Omicron variant 11 days before it was first reported clinically. Their algorithm, named “Freyja”, for identifying SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater, described in an article “Wastewater sequencing reveals early cryptic SARS-CoV-2 variant transmission” in Nature, has been adapted by many public health labs, and is a boon to ...
Pharmaceutical chemicals in prescription and over-the-counter medications are released into the environment during their manufacturing, usage, and disposal, particularly in surface waters. According to research findings recently published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, pharmaceutical pollution is a worldwide issue that is likely harming the health of the worl...
As we age, mutations in blood stem cells can mean that the altered cells can have a growth benefit over other blood cells and outnumber them in what is referred to as fitness advantage. Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow investigated how changes in fitness advantage that occur in blood production might provide clues to risk of developing leukemia...
Platelets are the smallest of all blood cells; they circulate in the bloodstream and bind together when they recognize damaged blood vessels, making them a vital part of the body's response to bleeding. The role of RNA regulation Now researchers, jointly led by Dr. Minna-Liisa Änkö at Hudson Institute of Medical Research's Functional RNAomics laboratory and Prof Susie ...
Biden’s words and actions are not surprising given the turning of the tide for marijuana in the last handful of years. For example, the recreational use of cannabis is now legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia. While this legalization and decriminalization has residual affects across many areas of life, for chemists, it’s a scientific challenge. “When I grew u...
"Until now, only one genetic alteration in the KCNK9gene was known to cause the disorder, called KCNK9 imprinting syndrome. Our study describes 15 new genetic alterations," says Margot Cousin, Ph.D., a translational genomics researcher in Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine and the study's lead author. Through the new study, which is published in Genome Med...
The technology provides a rapid and accurate way to test for the presence of the virus, and the researchers report that it has similar sensitivity as the current gold-standard test, PCR. However, the technology is not just envisaged as diagnostic. The nets can bind and disable the virus, suggesting that they may also have therapeutic applications. While the pandemic may...
Digital pathology partnership Leica Biosystems, a cancer diagnostics company, and Indica Labs, a computational and imaging management software provider, have announced a partnership that focuses on supplying digital pathology workflow solutions. The two groups have agreed to a commitment to maintain compatibility between the Aperio GT 450 family of scanners from Leica Bi...
The test measures patient blood levels of a protein on the virus that causes COVID-19. High levels of the protein correlated strongly with an increased need for respiratory support five days later, regardless of the patient’s disease severity when the test was conducted, the researchers found. People whose levels were high were also likely to be hospitalized significantl...
Fast, adorable and easy to use, immunochromatographic strip tests are a staple in most forensic analysis kits. Below, we take a closer look at how immunochromatography is used in forensic science and spotlight some exciting new developments unfolding in the field. Post-mortem forensic analysis In recent years, immunochromatography has emerged as a useful tool for the de...
Cleaning vs sanitation When developing laboratory hygiene guidelines, it’s important to understand the difference between cleaning and sanitation. The pair are similar but have some fundamental differences and each require specific products, tools and guidelines. . Cleaning describes the surface removal of debris and other materials. For example, rinsing out a glass bea...
Clinical laboratories are dangerous places to work. Sometimes, as lab managers, we become complacent to the hazards that surround us every day at work. Even in the best prepared laboratories, accidents still occur. When it comes to lab safety, prevention is key, but if staff don’t know what to do when an accident actually occurs, then we have missed the mark in terms of ...
September 20, 2022 — Scientists from The Tisch Cancer Institute have uncovered a mechanism by which certain breast cancer cells regulate their own metastases, fuel dissemination from the original tumor site, and determine routes to invade distant organs such as the lungs, according to a study published in Cell Reports in September. For the first time, scientists have i...
Using their automated cell culture platform, the scientists collaborated with Google Research to successfully identify new cellular hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease by creating and profiling over a million images of skin cells from a cohort of 91 patients and healthy controls. “Traditional drug discovery isn’t working very well, particularly for complex diseases like Pa...
WASHINGTON, DC — Genetic testing of saliva samples identifies the SARS-CoV-2 virus more quickly than testing of nasal swabs. The research is published March 21 in Microbiology Spectrum, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. “That is important because people can spread COVID-19 before they know that they have it,” said co-author Donald K. Milton, MD, DrPH, ...
HOUSTON, TX — Details about variants hiding in the deluge of genetic SARS-CoV-2 sequences would be good to know, if only researchers can get to them. A new program developed at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering will make it possible, at least for “intrahost variants,” those that appear in genome data from the same COVID-19-positive person. A Rice ...
“There are many potential advantages of an inhalable formulation compared to an injectable vaccine,” said Atip Lawanprasert, graduate student in biomedical engineering and a lead author of the study, published in the journal Biomacromolecules. “One is avoidance of needles. Inhalable vaccines might be able to help increase the rate of vaccination because so many people ar...
Singapore/Hamburg, August 1, 2022 - The globally active Eppendorf Group continues its growth track in Asia in a targeted manner and has opened a new site in Singapore. The new subsidiary is located in the heart of Singapore’s modern Biopolis science center and offers attractive office workplaces for sales and service activities, a modern pipette calibration laboratory an...
The traditional method for organ transport is to simply pack it in ice in a beer cooler and hope for the best. This is arguably inadequate, as demonstrated by the recent GUARDIAN-Heart Registry multi-center study, which compared heart transplant recipients who received their new organ after traditional ice storage or transport in the SherpaPak. Those who received a heart...
At present, clinicians typically assess donor lungs using qualitative variables, such as donor health and lung size. One of the most important factors, lung inflammation, is difficult to assess, and clinicians will often play it safe and reject an organ if there is any doubt about it. This means that lungs that might actually be suitable for transplantation are often re...
Digital technologies have filtered into nearly every facet of medicine, from drug discovery all the way to consumer fitness. But digital health isn't the only relative newcomer that could disrupt the status quo in health. The precision genomics space is also growing in popularity and use. What is precision genomics, and how will this space work with digital health? Pr...
Specifically, bioanalytical testing is anticipated to experience the fastest growth over this period.1 In fact, this segment led the global market in 2020 due to the high number of clinical trial registrations.² This annual Drug Development & Delivery report reveals the innovative technologies and techniques that leading outsourcing providers currently offer for both sm...
A new study from scientists at the Princess Máxima Center in the Netherlands demonstrates RNA sequencing can overcome the limitations of traditional diagnostic methods in identifying gene fusions. The researchers conducted RNA sequencing on 24 samples with a known gene fusion event to validate their method and thereafter performed prospective RNA sequencing in 244 patien...
The compact kit is relatively inexpensive to make, costing $51 in total. It could offer an alternative testing solution for resource-poor countries or remote areas with little access to well-equipped testing labs or trained personnel to process samples. The testing kit is based on a simple, non-invasive Covid-19 LAMP test and uses low-cost hardware, including a centrifu...
- New variants may be more contagious than previous ones—and escape vaccines. - Serum biomarkers, identified in rhesus macaques, can differentiate between primary infection and reinfection. - A tool utilizing these biomarkers may help identify surges in reinfection, scientists noted. Many experts now predict that COVID-19, which so far has killed more than 5.5 million p...
The development of the flu vaccine was a feat of pharmaceutical excellence. First produced for US military personnel, the vaccine became available for use by the American public in 1945, and ultimately helped change the trajectory of influenza disease management worldwide – reducing levels of both morbidity and mortality. Though numerous iterations have been developed in...
“A few weeks is what most clinicians call ‘rapid’ when it comes to sequencing a patient’s genome and returning results,” said Euan Ashley, MB, professor of medicine, of genetics and of biomedical data science at Stanford. Genome sequencing allows scientists to see a patient’s complete DNA makeup, which contains information about everything from eye color to inherited di...
Developers of cancer therapeutics are exploring different possibilities: pushing along existing lines of attack; opening entirely new lines of attack; and coordinating thrusts along multiple lines of attack. At the same time, the developers are interested in limiting collateral damage and fending off counterattacks. That is, they hope to prevent side effects and suppress...
In a mouse model, a mRNA vaccine that promotes production of the protein TR1 in skin cells was effective in mitigating the risk of UV-induced cancers and other skin problems, according to new research published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. “For more than 40 years researchers have looked at dietary antioxidants as a possible source of inexpensive, low-ris...
The breathalyzer, which they have termed the Bubbler, consists of a tube that someone blows into for fifteen seconds. The tube contains a mix of enzymes that reverse transcribe the RNA in viral particles into DNA, which allows for a subsequent benchtop PCR test. The technology is primarily another way to collect COVID-19 test samples, but as it is measuring the virus in...
Tube samples of Omicron, however, do further propose its “significant” capability to evade protection from previous infection and, potentially, even third vaccine dose. Published today (December 11, 2021), one of the earliest, peer-reviewed studies looking into the Omicron variant of COVID-19 suggests that people previously infected with COVID, and those vaccinated, wil...
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) has endorsed bedside diagnostics as the top research priority in response to the so-far 2-year long epidemic without let-up. The aim is to improve turnaround time and ease of use compared to the gold standard lab-based PCR test. These have included rapid antigen tests, alternate nucleic amplification methods and novel sensors in proxi...
