Polymerase Chain Reaction News and Research

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Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a revolutionary laboratory technique that enables the replication of a specific DNA sequence. Using PCR, millions of copies of a target DNA can be easily synthesized within a short period of time.

Breakthrough COVID infections in Northeast Italy showing waning vaccine protection

Researchers analyze an outbreak of breakthrough infections in a small nursing home in Northerneastern Italy.

28 Oct 2021

Routine surveillance helps detect asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 vaccine breakthrough infections

In a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers from Italy systematically monitored 2,397 HCWs who were fully vaccinated with BNT162 at the ASST Settelaghi hospitals in Lombardy, Italy during February 2021. HCWs who worked in 8 wards deemed at “high risk” for infection from attending patients had to undergo mandatory nasopharyngeal swab testing with SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction every two weeks. HCWs working in 8 “moderate-risk” wards were tested every four weeks.

28 Oct 2021

Chlorophyll catabolite pheophorbide A shows potential against SARS-CoV-2

A new study identifies a potent SARS-CoV-2 antiviral, Pheophorbide a (PheoA), which is a compound derived from the plant Marchantia polymorpha L.

27 Oct 2021

COVID-19 and subacute neuropsychiatric symptoms in adolescents

A new paper discusses neurologic symptoms in children with COVID-19.

27 Oct 2021

Effectiveness of mRNA BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine in immunocompromised individuals

Israeli researchers evaluate the antibody response in ICPs to assess antibody-mediated immunity following vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

26 Oct 2021

Mapping C. difficile: Advanced ribotyping technology helps researchers keep track of deadly disease

Interview with Seth Walk, Principal Investigator and Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University

From Promega Corporation 26 Oct 2021

High and increasing SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence amongst school-aged children in England

The latest round of the REACT-1 study indicates SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread among children.

26 Oct 2021

Study finds FDA-approved drug has potent antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern

A new study aimed to examine the antiviral potential of atovaquone against the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and other variants of concern.

25 Oct 2021

SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid antibodies reduce risk of reinfection for at least eight months

A new study concludes that at least with predominantly wild-type variants, the risk of reinfection with the virus among unvaccinated people is reduced by 80% or more.

22 Oct 2021

Honeybees can be trained to identify SARS-CoV-2 infected samples, say scientists

In a recent study published on the bioRxiv* pre-print server, researchers from the Netherlands successfully trained honeybees (Apis mellifera) to identify severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infected minks (Neovison vison) using Pavlovian conditioning protocols.

21 Oct 2021

Influence of age on innate and adaptive immunity in COVID-19 patients

A new study investigates how age influences SARS-CoV-2 replication, innate and adaptive immune responses.

21 Oct 2021

Biomarker predicts severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients

A new study investigates a biomarker to predict the severity of disease in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

20 Oct 2021

Two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine effective in preventing COVID-19 hospitalization among adolescents

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a study to determine the vaccination efficacy in the adolescent population, published recently.

20 Oct 2021

Regular testing of SARS-CoV-2 positive vaccinated HCWs may reduce need for long quarantines

A new study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine conducted systematic surveillance involving 2,397 HCWs who were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162 vaccine at the ASST Settelaghi hospitals, Italy, in February 2021.

19 Oct 2021

Many people's T-cells recognize the same components of SARS-CoV-2

A new study published on the bioRxiv* preprint aimed to identify highly immunoprevalent CD8 T-cell epitopes specific to SARS-CoV-2 that are confirmed to be endogenously processed and presented on frequently expressed HLA alleles.

18 Oct 2021

NIH RADx initiative announces $77.7 million to develop new rapid COVID-19 diagnostic tests

The NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative announced today that it has issued contract awards totaling $77.7 million to develop and manufacture 12 new rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

15 Oct 2021

Lateral flow tests are more accurate at detecting Covid-19 than previously reported

Lateral flow tests are more accurate than previously reported and cannot be compared directly to how PCR tests work, finds a new paper led by UCL researchers.

15 Oct 2021

Study reveals the zoonotic potential of the rat Sialodacryoadenitis virus

A new review aimed to describe the current state of knowledge on Sialodacryoadenitis virus, along with its characteristics and potential zoonotic threat.

13 Oct 2021

Role of CRISPR-Cas12a visual biosensor in detection of SARS-CoV-2

A new study aimed to develop a novel CRISPR-Cas12a powered visual biosensor for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.

13 Oct 2021

Comparing lateral flow testing with RT-PCR to detect SARS-CoV-2

Lateral flow devices (LFDs) are point-of-care tests that require significantly more time to develop than RT-PCR assays but can be used locally with minimal to no training, some of which can provide results in as little as 30 minutes. However, there have been some worries about the sensitivity of such kits. As a result, researchers from Micropathology Ltd have been comparing the two methods.

12 Oct 2021