When is genome sequencing advisable?

Human geneticists conduct clinical reference study for the diagnosis of genetic diseases

10-Jun-2024 - Scientists from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Leipzig Medical Center (UKL) have shown in two independent patient cohorts when a genome sequencing is beneficial in the diagnosis of genetic diseases. The jointly published study provides ...

Researchers 3D print key components for a point-of-care mass spectrometer

The low-cost hardware outperforms state-of-the-art versions and could someday enable an affordable, in-home device for health monitoring

09-Apr-2024 - Mass spectrometry, a technique that can precisely identify the chemical components of a sample, could be used to monitor the health of people who suffer from chronic illnesses. For instance, a mass spectrometer can measure hormone levels in the blood of someone with hypothyroidism. But mass ...

Glow sticks – Not just for parties anymore

University of Houston researcher using popular party favor to detect biothreats for US Navy

12-Jan-2024 - Remember that party where you were swinging glow sticks above your head or wearing them as necklaces? Fun times, right? Science times, too. Turns out those fun party favors are now being used by a University of Houston researcher to identify emerging biothreats for the United States Navy. It’s ...

AI predicts future pancreatic cancer

AI model spots those at highest risk for up to three years before diagnosis

16-May-2023 - An artificial intelligence tool has successfully identified people at the highest risk for pancreatic cancer up to three years before diagnosis using solely the patients’ medical records, according to new research led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the University of Copenhagen, in ...

How a CRISPR protein might yield new tests for many viruses

18-Jan-2023 - In a first for the genetic toolset known as CRISPR, a recently discovered protein has been found to act as a kind of multipurpose self-destruct system for bacteria, capable of degrading single-stranded RNA, single-stranded DNA and double-stranded DNA. With its abilities to target so many types of ...

Texas A&M research aims to improve Lyme disease diagnostics

Scientists are testing Raman spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool for Lyme disease

10-Jan-2023 - Research by two Texas A&M University scientists is focused on improving Lyme disease treatment outcomes by developing a test that’s both more accurate and more efficient than the current test for the infection. Lyme disease, the fastest growing vector-borne illness in the U.S., according to the ...

Researchers discover new type of CRISPR gene scissors

Component of bacterial immune defense paralyzes infected cells and could advance molecular biology diagnostics

05-Jan-2023 - It is an unexpected discovery by scientists at the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg in cooperation with Benson Hill, Inc. (Missouri) and Utah State University in the U.S.: They have found a nuclease, which they dubbed Cas12a2, that represents an entirely new type of CRISPR immune defense. Unlike any ...

Smart contact lenses for cancer diagnostics and screening

15-Aug-2022 - Scientists from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) have developed a contact lens that can capture and detect exosomes, nanometer-sized vesicles found in bodily secretions which have the potential for being diagnostic cancer biomarkers. The lens was designed with microchambers ...

Portable, point-of-care COVID-19 test could bypass the lab

Researchers developed a microfluidic cartridge for a 30-minute COVID-19 test

02-Sep-2020 - As COVID-19 continues to spread, bottlenecks in supplies and laboratory personnel have led to long waiting times for results in some areas. In a new study, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign researchers have demonstrated a prototype of a rapid COVID-19 molecular test and a simple-to-use, ...

New device quickly detects harmful bacteria in blood

Tiny device could help professionals diagnose and fight deadly infections

25-Mar-2020 - Engineers have created a tiny device that can rapidly detect harmful bacteria in blood, allowing health care professionals to pinpoint the cause of potentially deadly infections and fight them with drugs. "The rapid identification of drug-resistant bacteria allows health care providers to ...