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Diagnostics World | A group of cell engineers and synthetic biologists at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a tech tool called “eToeholds” that could help improve the safety and efficacy of RNA and cell therapies, in addition to enabling new forms of detection.
Dec 9, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | At Oxford Nanopore’s virtual Community Meeting last week, CTO Clive Brown presented new sequencing chemistries and hardware to enable liquid biopsy in the field.
Dec 6, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | American Rescue Plan investment for diagnostics manufacturing, point-of-care gynecological imaging, skincare diagnostics, sepsis diagnostics for warfighters, and more.
Dec 2, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | French AI startup Owkin announces big funding and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center partnership, Roche and Genentech choose Flywheel cloud informatics, and Talis Biomedical gets FDA EUA for COVID-19 test. Plus new products from VIDA Diagnostics, Oncocyte, Metabolon and more.
Nov 30, 2021
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Diagnostics World | Illumina and Genetic Alliance announced this week the creation of the iHope Genetic Health program aimed at providing whole-genome sequencing access (WGS) to tens of thousands of patients across the globe impacted by genetic disease. At least half of iHope Genetic Health's efforts will be focused on areas of the world in need outside the US, with more than one-third of Illumina's support being dedicated to patients in Africa.
Nov 22, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | Labs around the country with next-generation sequencing capabilities have begun using a respiratory virus panel that simultaneously tests for SARS-CoV-2 and 40 other potentially co-occurring respiratory viruses, including four cold-causing coronaviruses, both types of respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV), and more than a dozen influenza viruses.
Nov 17, 2021
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Diagnostics World News| Geisinger researchers have been awarded a $5 million grant to develop a diagnostic tool for genetic disorders. With support from the National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute, the group plans to build a High Impact Phenotype Identification System. The aim is to trim the time between symptom onset and the discovery of a genetic basis to improve patient care and outcomes.
Nov 15, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | Researchers in Germany are developing a lateral flow assay that aims to inform people if they are at heightened risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the robustness of their “cognitive reserve” to stave off symptoms of degenerative brain changes—all by measuring levels of three microRNAs (miRNAs) circulating in their blood.
Nov 12, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | The U.K. 100,000 Genomes Project published the results of a pilot study seeking diagnoses for 4,660 participants from 2,183 families with rare diseases. They found that whole genome sequencing measurably improved diagnoses for patients with a wide range of genetic illnesses and saved money for the healthcare system.
Nov 11, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | Rising incidence of takotsubo or “broken heart” syndrome is highlighting the need to better differentiate the condition from myocardial infarctions involving blocked arteries as well as other types of myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA)—and to figure out the root causes. The best that can be done for patients currently is to as quickly as possible get detailed pictures of their heart from cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to improve the odds that they’ll be properly diagnosed and treated.
Nov 10, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | Researchers in Denmark are pursuing development of a diagnostic approach pairing a liquid biopsy test with nanoparticle tracking analysis to measure disease severity in patients with autoimmune diseases. While at least five years away from making an appearance in hospital labs, their patented Nanoscale Immunoactive Protein Quantification (NIP-Q) technique has already been used to discover patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have a higher concentration of certain DNA–protein complexes in their blood.
Nov 4, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | In a new article published in JAMA Health Forum last week, members of the Association for Molecular Pathology COVID Response Steering Committee offered recommendations to improve the US’s ability to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future emerging infectious disease outbreaks.
Nov 3, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | New public biotech fund, single cell analysis system, Air Force investment in diagnostic reagents, and more.
Nov 2, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | Roche and Ibex Medical Analytics launch AI pathology agreement, University of Warwick and Iceni Diagnostics take a new look at SARS-CoV-2 testing, Caris Life Sciences and Ono Pharma collaborate on liquid biopsy, and wearables for cardiac health. Plus new products from MIP Diagnostics, AliveCor, Bio-Rad, and more.
Oct 29, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | A “quiet revolution” has been underway over the past year, exponentially growing the number of genetic variants discoverable by genome sequencing, according to Stephen Kingsmore, M.D., president and CEO of Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine in San Diego. Notably, it is now possible to identify an enormous number of structural variants—large genomic alterations that include insertions, deletions, and copy number variations—which account for about 20% of diagnoses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Oct 28, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | There are several challenges within the existing diagnostics and prognostics landscape. The first is the use of subjective, qualitative measurements. This can lead to a wide range of variability in clinical assessments. Trying to better standardize assessments across clinical sites and laboratories is a major area for improvement.
Oct 26, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | Most rare diseases have a genetic component, yet most people with rare diseases remain undiagnosed, Thomas Defay, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, told the audience at the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo last month. Alexion has partnered with Genomenon to build out curated dashboards specific to some of Alexion’s genetic diseases of interest.
Oct 21, 2021
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Diagnostics World | Several research groups and start-ups are pursuing the potential of scratch-and-sniff testing, envisioning it as a simple, cheap, and accessible tool that could help limit transmission and avoid shutdowns during the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic.
Oct 19, 2021
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Diagnostics World News | No one awaiting the results of a biopsy wants to hear that they may be in for a longer wait. But, there’s a good chance results may be delayed and there is an understandable reason for it: There are tens of millions of biopsies ordered each year, and there aren’t enough histotechnologists to process them.
Oct 15, 2021
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Bio-IT World | Researchers at Washington University (WashU) are exploring use of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) as a liquid biopsy analyte for solid tumors and, most recently, to track and predict organ damage causes by sepsis. Particularly noteworthy is their liquid biopsy for distinguishing between benign and malignant tumors in a heritable cancer predisposition syndrome.
Oct 13, 2021