More than 80,000 tests done in under two months — ScienceDaily
In an posting showing up in Nature Biomedical Engineering, a crew of scientists from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medication and UCLA School of Engineering report real-planet results on SwabSeq, a large-throughput screening system that works by using sequencing to test 1000’s of samples at a time to detect COVID-19. They had been ready to complete extra than 80,000 checks in a lot less than two months, with the test demonstrating exceptionally large sensitivity and specificity.
SwabSeq works by using sample-specific molecular barcodes to simultaneously evaluate 1000’s of samples for the presence or absence of SARS-CoV-two, the virus that causes COVID-19. SwabSeq was granted Fda Unexpected emergency Use Authorization in October and is presently deployed at UCLA in a large-complexity CLIA laboratory, which has executed more than 150,000 checks due to the fact December 2020. SwabSeq is a flexible protocol and can speedily scale up screening for novel pathogens, together with COVID-19 and upcoming rising viruses.
“We have optimized SwabSeq to prioritize scale and small value, crucial things that are lacking from recent COVID-19 diagnostics,” the authors publish.
“These results reveal the probable of SwabSeq to be utilized for SARS-CoV-two screening on an unprecedented scale,” stated Dr. Valerie Arboleda, Assistant Professor and direct scientist on the challenge. “SwabSeq presents a probable answer to the need for inhabitants-vast screening to stem the pandemic.” In the months due to the fact, the crew has continued to use the test, and as of this day has executed extra than 150,000 checks.
The groundbreaking technology was designed in a collaboration among scientists at the Office of Computational Medication affiliated with equally the David Geffen School of Medication and the Samueli School of Engineering at UCLA, the Office of Human Genetics, the Office of Pathology and Laboratory Medication, and Octant, a start off-up firm launched and incubated at UCLA. SwabSeq is a modification of Octant’s technology that is currently being utilized towards drug discovery and has been designed obtainable broadly to combat the pandemic. UCLA scientists have been top a broader coalition of academic and industrial labs around the nation and the planet to create the technology to scale up COVID-19 screening.
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