PCR: Activated by light

New approach could help to significantly improve diagnostic tests based on PCR

20-Dec-2021 - DNA polymerases and other enzymes that modify DNA are essential tools in biotechnology and diagnostics. They are the key component for COVID-19 diagnostics by PCR. As useful as they are, DNA processing enzymes often have important flaws. Some of them display significant activity during the ...

Analysis system enables targeted investigation of antiviral surfaces for material developers

Use of real-time polymerase chain reaction to test antiviral effectiveness

28-Oct-2020 - The need for everyday objects with antiviral surfaces is high due to the COVID 19 pandemic. It is known that the material composition of an object has an influence on the viability of viruses on surfaces. This is where the work of the Fraunhofer IFAM comes in: In cross-disciplinary research ...

A Small Piece Of Jurassic Park

DNA extracted from insects embedded in resin

01-Oct-2020 - For the first time, Senckenberg scientist Mónica Solórzano-Kraemer, together with lead authors David Peris and Kathrin Janssen of the University of Bonn and additional colleagues from Spain and Norway, successfully extracted genetic material from insects that were embedded in six- and ...

Gene editing: Taming CRISPR’s collateral damage

Simple method to detect unintended alterations in the target gene itself – results indicate that such on-target events occur at high frequency

28-May-2020 - CRISPR-Cas9 can alter genes at pre-defined sites in specific ways, but it does not always act as planned. An LMU team has now developed a simple method to detect unintended ‘on-target’ events, and shown that they often occur in human stem cells. The gene-editing system CRISPR-Cas9 has ...

Recognise and control new variants of the deadly Ebola virus more quickly

11-Feb-2020 - The situation is extraordinary: there have only ever been four declarations of public health emergencies of international concern in the past and now there are two at the same time. Whilst the risks associated with the novel coronavirus are still unclear, people in the Democratic Republic of the ...

How reliable is diagnostic testing for Zika?

05-Mar-2018 - Globally, Brazil has been the hardest hit by the current Zika outbreak. Almost all cases of Zika-associated malformations in newborns have been reported from this country. DZIF scientists from the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have shown that molecular diagnostic tests for the Zika virus ...

QIAGEN and Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology collaborate to develop assay for active TB risk in individuals with latent infection

11-Jan-2012 - QIAGEN N.V. and the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (MPIIB), Department of Immunology have announced a new collaboration to develop a molecular diagnostic test to assess the risk of an individual with latent tuberculosis (TB) developing active TB disease during their lifetime. ...