Feb 13, 2017 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Innovative technological advances could potentially provide clinical laboratories, pathology groups, and medical researchers with improved methodologies for designing, performing, and analyzing lab tests that use genetic information
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) have developed an innovative new enzyme that promises to improve the methods and tools used by pathology groups and clinical laboratories when conducting genetic testing.
The enzyme enables the reproduction of large quantities of Ribonucleic acid (RNA) to be accurately duplicated. It also can perform reverse transcription and scrutinize itself while copying genetic information, which will enable both researchers and clinical laboratories to improve the accuracy of gene sequencing where RNA is involved.
The team published their findings in Science, the academic journal of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and filed for a provisional patent for the new sequence of the discovered enzyme. (more…)
Feb 5, 2016 | Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Called ‘ViroCap,’ this new diagnostic technology is able to discover more viruses in patient samples, as compared to PCR genome sequencing tests
It could be the ultimate multi-analysis medical laboratory test ever. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a diagnostic test that they claim tests for any virus infecting people and animals.
The new test, called ViroCap, detects viruses that standard tests based on genome sequencing cannot, according to a university statement.
Viruses Make for a Popular Research Subject
Are virus tests going, well, viral? It was just a few weeks ago that Dark Daily reported on research at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) aimed at unlocking virus detection beyond one pathogen at a time. (See Dark Daily, “Researchers at Howard Hughes Medical Institute Develop Blood Test That Reveals a Patient’s Viral History; Could Reduce Unnecessary Clinical Laboratory Testing,” December, 30, 2015.)
The HHMI research resulted in VirScan, an alternative to medical laboratory tests that test for specific viruses one at a time, and which can detect all diseases a patient has had over his or her lifetime, according to an HHMI news statement about the new technology. (more…)
