Assay News and Research

RSS

WHO endorses Truenat molecular diagnostic tests for TB

The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, Molbio Diagnostics and the Indian Council of Medical Research announced today that the World Health Organization has now endorsed three of their rapid molecular Truenat assays for initial diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and subsequent detection of rifampicin resistance in adults and children with signs and symptoms of pulmonary TB.

3 Jul 2020

Thermo Scientific MAS Omni Infectious Controls launched to assess the performance of serological assays

Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, today announced the availability of the Thermo Scientific MAS Omni Infectious Disease quality control sets for monitoring serological assays for analytes such as HIV 1&2, Hepatitis B & C virus, Syphilis and HTLV I/II.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 3 Jul 2020

Diagnosis of COVID-19 by RT-LAMP assay in 25 minutes

Even as COVID-19 continues its inexorable march, taking hundreds of thousands of lives and causing nearly 11 million cases, the diagnosis of the infection is still not sensitive or specific enough. Now, a new study by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute and published on the preprint server medRxiv...

3 Jul 2020

Genomic sequencing to provide precision medicine for aromatase deficiency

An international team of scientists from Switzerland Spain, has studied the genetic basis of aromatase deficiency, a rare metabolic disorder that prevents the production of estrogens in humans, according to new research in JCEM.

30 Jun 2020

Researchers provide mechanistic insight into protein co-aggregation in Alzheimer's disease

A research team lead by Ludmilla Morozova Roche at Umeå University, Sweden, has provided the mechanistic insight into protein co-aggregation in Alzheimer's disease.

26 Jun 2020

Brazilian startup to develop a low-cost high-performance COVID-19 diagnostic test

Researchers at Biolinker, a biotech startup based in São Paulo, Brazil, are developing a low-cost high-performance COVID-19 diagnostic test using only locally sourced inputs.

26 Jun 2020

Antibody tests may give false hope of immunity, health experts warn

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, health experts warn against the use of antibody tests to determine if a person has immunity against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). An antibody test determines if a person developed antibodies against the infection due to past exposure.

26 Jun 2020

Berkeley Lights announces Opto™ antigen-presenting bead kit to accelerate the expansion of antigen-specific T cells used to develop cell-based therapies

Berkeley Lights, Inc. today announced the Opto Antigen-Presenting Bead kit, a new reagent kit that activates and expands antigen-specific T cells in blood.

From Bruker Cellular Analysis 25 Jun 2020

A 'quick and easy' COVID-19 test developed for population-scale screening

Global endeavors to fight the Covid-19 pandemic heavily rely on accurate, fast and frequent tests for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 - "test, test, test", as the World Health Organization has bluntly put it.

24 Jun 2020

New assay rapidly tests SARS-CoV-2 neutralization and screens antivirals

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, have developed a new platform that can rapidly test neutralizing antibody activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and perform high-throughput screening of potential antiviral agents.

24 Jun 2020

Effective neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by synthetic nanobodies targeting the spike protein

In their recent bioRxiv paper, a multinational group of researchers reported rapid isolation and characterization of nanobodies from a synthetic library (known as sybodies) that target the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein – with a strikingly high neutralization ability.

24 Jun 2020

Cell signaling pathway may offer new drugs for tuberous sclerosis complex

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a neurological disorder causing non-cancerous tumors, called cortical tubers, to grow throughout the brain and body, as well as other conditions like epilepsy and autism.

24 Jun 2020

New technique helps measure dNTP concentrations with greater sensitivity

A highly sensitive and easy-to-use technique applicable for tissue samples can be useful, for example, to researchers specialised in mitochondrial diseases and cancer.

24 Jun 2020

Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 can induce virus-specific T cell responses without seroconversion

A new study by researchers at Strasbourg University Hospital and published on the preprint server medRxiv* in June 2020 shows that COVID-19 antibody responses may sometimes be lacking following exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This could lead to a significant underestimation of the number of infections and the number of individuals who have achieved immunity.

24 Jun 2020

8.5 percent of COVID-19 patients do not seroconvert

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in June 2020 reports on the use of inexpensive and accurate ELISA and rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) to identify the demographic and clinical factors that affect the antibody response in COVID-19 patients.

23 Jun 2020

Characterizing SARS-CoV-2 convalescent plasma

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in June 2020 uses serologic correlates to assess the efficacy of convalescent plasma. This will also help to classify donor plasma as more or less potent at neutralizing the virus.

23 Jun 2020

Novel vaccine platform against COVID-19 based on engineered human mesenchymal stem cells

In a recent groundbreaking bioRxiv paper, Chinese researchers describe a novel approach towards coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine design based on engineered human mesenchymal stem cells, with favorable and promising antibody response.

22 Jun 2020

Reassuring news on the Oxford vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2

A new paper from the UK vaccine research group, currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server, reveals that a single dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) can induce antigen-specific antibody and T cells responses against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and a booster shot additionally enhances antibody production with an increase in neutralizing titers – particularly in pigs.

22 Jun 2020

As problems grow with Abbott’s fast COVID test, FDA standards are under fire

In mid-May, the Food and Drug Administration issued a rare public warning about an Abbott Laboratories COVID-19 test that for weeks had received high praise from the White House because of its speed: Test results could be wrong.

22 Jun 2020

A highly sensitive and specific antibody test for COVID-19

A new proof-of-concept study by UK researchers, currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server, describes the development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay that can be used when lower levels of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) specific-antibodies are present in serum and saliva samples.

21 Jun 2020