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Saliva promising alternative to upper airway swabs for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2

The standard diagnostic test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Now, a new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in July 2020 describes the use of saliva as a sample in RT-PCR for diagnosis in place of nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs.

14 Jul 2020

A new measles-based COVID-19 vaccine

Now, a new study by researchers from Germany's Paul Ehrlich Institute and published on the preprint server bioRxiv in July 2020 describes a potential vaccine based on the measles vaccine, which elicits both an antibody response and cellular immunity against the virus. This also protects against the measles virus. This could be a significant weapon in the fight against these two threats.

14 Jul 2020

Current assays reflect non-neutralizing antibodies, finds study

Several serologic tests have been developed to help diagnose the presence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), either currently or in the past. However, all of them are not equally effective.

14 Jul 2020

Study identifies three novel broad-spectrum SARS-CoV-2 cell entry inhibitors

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Cornell University in the U.S. just described several new inhibitors of human coronavirus spike proteins by screening a library of approved drugs with SARS-S and MERS-S pseudotyped particle entry assays. Their exciting findings are currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

13 Jul 2020

Serology distinguishes children with MIS-C associated with COVID-19

Researchers in the United States say that measuring antibody titers against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may help to distinguish between multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and other clinically similar syndromes.

13 Jul 2020

As winter comes other viruses will compete with SARS-CoV-2 for susceptible hosts

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 traces how COVID-19 became the predominant cause of respiratory infection in the period from early January until the present.

10 Jul 2020

Novel antibody test for SARS-CoV-2

A team of researchers in the United States have developed highly specific and sensitive assays that could improve understanding of the antibody response in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and help to determine the effectiveness of vaccines.

9 Jul 2020

Insilico Medicine, Arctoris announce technology partnership to discover new COVID-19 drugs

Insilico Medicine, a biotechnology company developing an end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing next-generation artificial intelligence, today announced a technology partnership with Arctoris, the world's first fully automated drug discovery platform, offering remotely accessible, pre-optimized and fully validated R&D processes for its partners and clients globally.

9 Jul 2020

Small molecule drugs binding Mac1 domain of SARS-CoV-2

Now, an intriguing new study out of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee reveals that numerous small molecule drugs like the proton pump inhibitors omeprazole and rabeprazole bind the important Mac1 domain on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus.

8 Jul 2020

Researchers develop bioprinted skin model of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

The cover for issue 27 of Oncotarget features "Bimodal imaging examples of control and treated tumors (red) before and after the treatment period," by Browning, et al. and reported that the authors developed a 3-dimensional bioprinted skin model of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) tumors together with a microscopy assay to test chemotherapeutic effects in tissue.

7 Jul 2020

New assay uses unique fluorescent tags to analyze multiple cell populations

An efficient, robust method of examining the interactions between cells uses fluorescent tagging to simultaneously analyze multiple cell populations, speeding up a once tedious and limiting process.

6 Jul 2020

Researchers detect "biologically relevant" AMH levels in human hair samples

The prospect of a non-invasive test of ovarian reserve is a little closer following results from a study showing that measurement of a fertility hormone can be accurately taken from a sample of human hair.

6 Jul 2020

BBI Solutions reaches 'major milestone' in development of COVID-19 lateral flow antibody test

BBI Solutions, part of the UK-Rapid Test Consortium, has reached a ‘major milestone’ in the development of a COVID-19 lateral flow antibody test.

3 Jul 2020

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