I cared whether I could still carry my groceries. Climb stairs. Finish a sentence without losing the thread

I cared how many good years I had left.

Not lifespan. Healthspan.

I wanted to know how long I could stay sharp, strong, and independent. Not just alive, but thriving. So I started asking a new question of my patients, my research, and myself:

What’s the one blood test that tells me how fast I’m aging?

Most people think it’s cholesterol. Or maybe blood sugar. But those are lagging indicators. They tell you what’s broken, not what’s brewing.

The test I care about most now?

Hs-CRP.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein.

Hs-CRP levels predict more than inflammation — they can forecast your future health. The higher the number, the shorter the path to chronic disease.

It’s not flashy. It doesn’t trend on social media.

However, it may be the most important number you’re not tracking.

Why Inflammation Matters More Than You Think

Hs-CRP is a marker of inflammation.

And inflammation, more than almost anything else, is what turns time into damage.

Chronic inflammation accelerates heart disease. It promotes cancer. It fuels Alzheimer’s, frailty, and age-related decline.

You don’t need a PhD to understand this: aging well means inflaming less.

Hs-CRP doesn’t measure one disease. It measures your body’s silent alarm system.

And when it’s elevated, things are already smoldering.

In healthy adults, hs-CRP should be below 1.0 mg/L.

Between 1 and 3 is a moderate risk. Anything above 3 is a warning sign.

Here’s the problem: Most people don’t know their number. And most doctors don’t order it unless you’ve already had a heart attack.

But if you care about your healthspan, you should.

Ask your doctor to add hs-CRP to your next blood panel. It could change how you age.

Why Most Doctors Don’t Order This Test

Medicine tends to focus on what’s urgent, not what’s important.

Hs-CRP doesn’t diagnose a specific disease. It doesn’t tell you what organ is failing. It just whispers: something’s wrong.

And in modern medicine, whispers get ignored.

In the U.S., insurance may not routinely cover it unless you’re already at high cardiovascular risk.

Clinical guidelines don’t push it for prevention.

And most physicians are too busy putting out fires to go looking for smoke.

But that’s exactly what this test reveals: slow, quiet inflammation that may not make headlines, but shortens your healthspan all the same.

Can You Order hs-CRP Without a Doctor? Yes — in most U.S. states, you can. Services like Ulta Lab Tests, Request A Test, or Walk-In Lab allow you to order an hs-CRP online for $30–$70. You choose a local draw site, such as Quest or Labcorp. No doctor visit required. Exceptions: New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island restrict consumer lab orders.

What My Patients Taught Me

Some of my fittest-looking patients had elevated hs-CRP.

Not because they were overweight.

But because they were inflamed.

Sleep deprivation. Chronic stress. Processed foods. Environmental toxins. Dental infections. Even loneliness.

Inflammation has many faces.

And that’s what makes hs-CRP so powerful: it doesn’t just reflect one system. It integrates them all.

The gut. The immune system. The heart. Even the brain.

Want more patient insights? Read What Dying Patients Taught Me About Living.

The Science Behind CRP and Aging

The liver makes C-reactive protein in response to inflammation. But it’s not just a random flare-up detector — it’s a proxy for systemic stress.

Numerous studies have shown that oxidative stress is linked to accelerated telomere shortening and dysfunction. Oxidative stress caused by inflammation, cell factors, or environmental exposures contributes to degenerative diseases and cancer.

The lower your inflammation, the slower your biological clock.

What Happened When I Lowered Mine

The first time I measured my hs-CRP, it was 2.9.

I was sleeping 5 hours a night, skipping meals between consults, and not drinking enough water.

Nothing looked wrong on paper. But I felt off—mentally slower, physically stiff, emotionally flat.

Six months later, I made three changes:

• I walked every morning before checking my phone.
• I swapped protein bars for real food.
• I prioritized sleep as if it were a prescription.

My hs-CRP dropped to 0.7.

My brain felt clearer.

My joints were less inflamed.

Even my mood improved.

One number, many ripple effects.

Lowering Your hs-CRP (and Raising Your Healthspan)

No drug magically cures inflammation. But lifestyle can.

What works?

• Fiber (especially soluble fiber from legumes, chia seeds, oats, and vegetables
• Omega-3s (like those from fish or algae oil)
• Sleep (7–8 hours, not negotiable)
• Walking (daily, ideally in nature)
• Resistance training (2–3x/week)
• Social connection (yes, seriously)
• Oral hygiene (brush, floss, and keep your mouth free of inflammation — it’s your body’s open door to systemic disease)
• Screen-free wind-down time (to calm your nervous system)

You don’t need to be perfect. But you do need to be in rhythm.

I check my hs-CRP every 6 months now. Not because I’m afraid of dying.

But because I want to live well.

The Textbook Answer

For most healthy individuals, routine C-reactive protein (CRP) testing is not necessary.

However, there are some exceptions where it can be useful, especially high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP), which can assess chronic, low-grade inflammation, a known risk factor for heart disease and other conditions.

Here’s a breakdown of when it might be useful:

You might consider hs-CRP testing if you:

• Have a family history of heart disease or early cardiovascular events.
• Have metabolic syndrome or multiple cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity).
• Have autoimmune symptoms (e.g., fatigue, joint pain, skin issues) and your doctor is evaluating for inflammatory conditions.
• You are already diagnosed with heart disease or chronic inflammatory conditions (like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus), and your provider uses CRP to monitor disease activity.

You probably don’t need CRP testing if:

• You’re young, healthy, and asymptomatic with no notable risk factors.
• You’re not going to change your treatment plan based on the result (i.e., no action would be taken).

Final Thoughts

You can’t choose your genes. But you can choose your daily fire level.

Inflammation is optional.

Hs-CRP is the one number I now track more than cholesterol, blood pressure, or glucose.

Because it reveals how much damage I’m silently absorbing.

And how much resilience I still have left.

If you want to extend your healthspan, start by asking for this one test.

Your primary healthcare provider can tell you if it is appropriate for you.

Curious how gut health and inflammation silently erode your health?
Read The Silent Killer in Your Gut — one of my most-read essays.

Scientific Sources

1. Ridker, P.M., Moorthy, M.V., Cook, N.R., Rifai, N., Lee, I.M., & Buring, J.E. (2024). Inflammation, Cholesterol, Lipoprotein(a), and 30-Year Cardiovascular Outcomes in Women. New England Journal of Medicine, 391(9), 2087–2097. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2405182

2. Lassale, C., Batty, G.D., Steptoe, A., Cadar, D., Akbaraly, T.N., Kivimäki, M., & Zaninotto, P. (2019). Association of 10-Year C-Reactive Protein Trajectories With Markers of Healthy Aging: Findings From the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 74(2), 195–203. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/gly028

3. Yao, S.-M., Zheng, P.-P., Wan, Y.-H., Dong, W., Miao, G.-B., Wang, H., & Yang, J.-F. (2021). Adding high-sensitivity C-reactive protein to frailty assessment to predict mortality and cardiovascular events in elderly inpatients with cardiovascular disease. Experimental Gerontology, 146, 111235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2021.111235

Want to Lower Inflammation and Extend Healthspan — Without Guesswork?

Want a clear plan to lower your inflammation and extend your healthspan?

I built a doctor-designed guide to lower your inflammation, heal your gut, and extend your healthspan:

Extending Life and Healthspan

Inside, you’ll find:

• The daily habits I use to reduce inflammation
• The #1 longevity lever I recommend to patients (that isn’t a pill)
• What I tell patients who want to age without decline

It’s simple. Practical. And rooted in the science, I trust.

Michael Hunter, MD, is a physician and writer focused on healthspan, helping people live longer, healthier lives — one lab result at a time.

The post The Number That Predicts How Fast You’re Aging appeared first on Medika Life.

Last year, Medika Life published a piece titled The Top 20 AI Voices to Watch, and most of the thought leaders, influencers, and theorists featured continue to demonstrate why they lead the AI conversation. Among those key voices – Tom Lawry and John Nosta – have focused on why conversation must center around “not will be” rather than what is!  What is happening with this technology right now to improve the system and human health?  Nosta points to how AI is an extension of the health professionals’ cognitive abilities, and Lawry reinforces that health systems that adapt and implement remain ahead of the care curve.

Too much of the side conversation distracts from the reality that AI isn’t a future shock; it’s happening – it’s been happening – now and for decades and is impacting health professionals’ abilities to rise to higher levels of performance and contribution within their communities. 

We had a chance to sit down with one of those market leaders whose ideas and organization are demonstrating the efficient value of AI to make medical diagnoses more timely, efficient, and effective.  Joseph Mossel, Co-founder and CEO of Ibex Medical Analytics is an engineer, entrepreneur, and supply chain workflow expert and has been partnering with pathologists, health systems, and pharmaceutical companies to add speed and reduce the human stressors around accurate diagnosis.

Medika Life sat down with Mossel to explore how he and his team at Ibex bring real-time practical value to the pathologist’s workflow and world and, in doing so, bring an authoritative voice and application to their output.

Conversation with Joseph Mossel – Ibex Medical Analytics

Gil Bashe, Editor-in-Chief, Media Life: People often discuss augmented intelligence – AI – as “futuristic” or theoretical technology. Then, there is abundant conversation about AI’s pros and cons. Can it replace skilled medical professionals?  But, as you and Ibex AI demonstrate, it accelerates critical analysis – sustains human life, and enhances research decisions. Your company’s customers embrace this “thinking” technology to improve workflow and reduce throughput stress. Perhaps most important is its ability to amplify critical thinking skills to provide deeper understanding. 

People want to understand how leaders take this technology, manage vast amounts of information, and operationalize it. You turn a wealth of information into practical business and clinical solutions that sustain and save lives. Do you agree with that basic premise?

Joseph Mossel, CEO, Ibex: Yes, I do. When we looked at this field, we saw a huge opportunity to do something that had not been done before by applying AI to pathology. While it’s been done successfully in radiology, digitization in pathology is far more recent, presents unique challenges, and offers significant opportunities for the research and clinical care communities. For us, it was crucial to feel that we were doing something meaningful and helping improve people’s health globally.

What’s interesting about Ibex is that our founders come from a computer science background. We set out to harness the technology within a clinical environment. But we were true to the goal of helping patients and physicians. This singular focus guided us throughout our journey to do something meaningful and, as you note, practical.

Bashe: Pathology, traditionally involved in examining wet slides under a microscope, now embraces digitization. You were applying computer science and thinking through an idea that would transform an insight-driven medical profession that navigates within a larger physician community.

When you and your co-founder began this journey, did you study the entire process, from sample collection to the pathology lab’s inner workings to how patient-centered professionals use these data? What was your approach to understanding and improving this sector?

AI Isn’t Only About Data – It’s Also Work Flow Change

Mossel: More than that. We come from a background that requires understanding how to build products that improve throughput and output. It’s in our DNA. This isn’t just about analyzing data; it’s about having products running in the market, accomplishing an engineering feat and a successful user experience. A lot of sector knowledge is core to the company’s DNA.

As we looked at pathology, three questions drove what we were doing:  

1. The pathology lab resembles a sophisticated factory with advanced machinery and highly trained technicians.  We wondered how to improve this (life-sustaining) factory—even considering how the experts’ experience improved.
2. How do we capture mistakes early to reduce professional anxiety?
3. How do we ensure the right cases get the right priority? We explored the steps, bottlenecks, challenges, and the IT status and infrastructure of the pathology lab.

The next set of questions is clinical. We needed to understand what happened after this sophisticated “factory” had completed its initial work. How is the information used in patient care or research?  How can it be prepared and offered so that it continues to advance within the decision-making process?

The slides are already there, and a pathologist is looking through, historically, the microscope, now on a computer screen, and conducting the analysis. The key is understanding the clinical questions pathologists must answer and having confidence in their observation beyond a black-and-white diagnosis. That is much more complex than just saying whether cancer cells are present or not.  It adds value to this professional’s presence in the care or research process.

Our goal is to identify tasks where AI excels, like counting cells, and tasks where human expertise shines, such as spotting very small, suspected regions. AI can ensure that everything is scanned and nothing is missed, highlighting interesting areas and ensuring the pathologist can confidently examine.  Augmented Intelligence, in this case, is not replacing the pathologist; it’s helping them do their job – the function that makes them essential in clinical care – even better.

If the Benefits Are Clear Change Is Possible

Bashe: No matter how valuable the idea or technology is, sometimes the culture of a community can create roadblocks to change. As an engineer with computer science and product development expertise, you understand the pathologist’s role as an ally to allied health professionals and as your customer. You have the keen ability as an engineer who understands computer science and building products, which means you understand customer expectations.

There is often a feeling that physicians feel threatened by AI; what was your experience sitting down with your advisors? What comments or feedback were you getting from those people?

Mossel: My view might be biased as I primarily meet with people already inclined toward using AI. The main reason I hear from early adopters is that pathologists are struggling to cope with their field’s increasing complexity, and they are genuinely open to help.

One of the things that we hear from many of our users is that it reduces stress levels. It also just helps them get through the cases faster. There’s less buildup of what they physically have on their desk – slides waiting to be made, for example – which adds stress.

But there’s an even deeper element: they don’t need to go home with this feeling at the end of the day. ‘What did I miss today? Was there something I didn’t see?”

So there’s always these remaining questions, and I think we’re helping them sleep better at night. In general, we make the experience of being a pathologist meaningful – even crucial to the next part of the patient’s journey. We’re not at all considering replacing pathologists. We’re focused on making their experience and clinical voices more authoritative.

Bashe: Technology augments the skills of health professionals; it doesn’t replace them. The human deploys or calls upon the technology to provide a greater value to the system, the patient, and the referring physician, and it becomes a much more authoritative voice because they’re championing it. They’re channeling their wisdom through technology.

Ibex chose to focus specifically on cancer diagnosis. Was that a personal, strategic, or market-driven choice? Because of the ability of the technology? Can we say, ‘Wow, it’s not that they have this type of cancer, from the molecular structure in the staging, it’s this type of cancer, and therefore, we’re best to go with this type of clinical approach’?

Paving the Pathway for Precision Medicine

Mossel: Yes, we are paving the way for precision medicine. I think that’s the third driving question for what we’re doing. One revolves around efficiency and the other concerns clinical quality. We primarily do that with our partnerships; we partner with pharmaceutical companies to use this information. 

Data coming out from pathology drives new insights that pathologists can’t do alone. We are finding these important clinical questions that guide treatment. The key here is getting your hands on the correct data sets that allow you to build what we like to call AI markers, like biomarkers, by analyzing these slides quantitatively, which is different from how a human pathologist does it, and putting this into a machine learning framework, generating novel predictions, creating novel tests.

Why cancer? First of all, you’re right. It doesn’t have to be about the technology. Pathology is not just about cancer; technology lends itself to anything. I think that the answer to your question is all of the above; some of it has to do with firsthand experiences with family members who had cancer. Cancer isn’t everything pathologists do, but it’s undoubtedly the most critical, meaningful, and at the heart of the profession.

If you tie it back to therapeutics, determining the right therapy is where the most significant need and opportunity resides. I see us expanding to other disease areas. Clinical diseases also vary. The diagnosis is a determinant of pathology, and we can certainly go into those domains. We are not limited just to cancer, but still, we think of ourselves as a cancer diagnostic.

Bashe: Cancer is the third major cause of death in the world. 72% of disease deaths relate to what they call noncommunicable diseases. Cancer has a substantial economic impact. If we could get to a correct diagnosis earlier, we could deploy treatments earlier; the fastest or quickest institutions to deploy technologies that make their people smarter, faster, more effective, and more efficient are often major academic medical centers.

Does this type of technology make academic medical centers more important to the biopharmaceutical industry because the quality of the data the department shares is more specific?  Will it make the data more valuable to pharmaceutical companies when submitting new medications?

Mossel: The way to think of it is that AI is, in a way, creating a new modality of data: the ability to extract quantitative objective features from vast information. When you work with human pathologists in a clinical trial, they’re much more limited in the amount and objectivity of the data they can get on the site. So yes, you create this new, much richer, more objective information set. You can do more sophisticated machine learning AI on this data and introduce new insights.

Interestingly, the most significant successes are from academic centers. We work with many, though much of our work is with community commercial pathology labs. These are the backbone centers that oversee high volumes. People in the community commercial pathology labs feel the most pain and stress.  Most of our success is in this domain.

AI Can Advance Health Equity

One of the biggest motivators for our actions is how we help promote health equity. If you’re a pathologist at one of these academic centers, you are well-trained with particularly good colleagues surrounding you. You have a fellow doing all your cases in advance of your searches. There’s a strong support network around you. If you’re a pathologist in a commercial lab, you work alone and don’t have the same level of support. We bring this lab our technology, which was trained by some of the world’s best pathologists and help drive up the quality. Most pathology cases go through these labs, and we are helping them—most people who don’t get their pathology sent out to Brigham and Women’s here in Boston.

Bashe: This is a two-pronged health equity front. Ibex enables the community-based or private lab pathologist to share equality with the state-of-the-art academic medical center’s pathology department. So, David equals Goliath when it comes to clinical output or throughput.

There is also the potential that people who often receive sub-optimal care, the Black, Indigenous Americans diagnostic, can get the same quality oversight as someone who has the private resources to go to Mass General or New England Deaconess or Dana Farber Cancer Center; they’re going to get the same quality review of their pathology data. This type of technology, deployed widely, can be a great equalizer in terms of both the ability of the pathologist to perform and feel comfortable about that, but also the ability of people who may have significant health risks to think that their data had the same oversight as someone from a different zip code. Is that accurate?

Mossel: Yes. This works within a specific country where you have a huge demand. This is not theoretical; we have actual numbers backing it up. But you see it within a specific country, the difference between the top academic centers and the periphery. It’s a dichotomy that exists both on a domestic and international level. If you go to the developing world, there is a massive shortage of pathologists, and there is opportunity there. That’s another part of our vision.

Our mission is to ensure that every patient gets the correct diagnosis. Everyone takes it as a given that cancer diagnosis is often wrong, and we do the best we can do. But we are now in a position where technology allows us to go beyond that, overcome these barriers, and make diagnostic errors exceedingly rare. But it’s not just a technological question, right? It’s a question for the healthcare system. For the technology companies, the providers, the payers, and the regulators – everyone needs to get together and solve this problem.

Bashe: You are a CEO, a founder. You’re an operational leader. You’re listening to the customer’s needs; you’re listening to the response. You talked about how you and your colleagues have created products before, and you understand that it has to be packaged, deployed, and used to assess market success. Could you share two or three measures of success from where you sit? What do you think the success measure should be?

Accuracy Decreases Workplace Stress

Mossel: We have one straightforward measure of success for Ibex that can be extended for the entire industry: the number of biopsies that go through our system. We have hard data showing that Ibex knows what we are doing and has proven that the more cases that go through our system, the fewer the diagnostic errors and the greater the efficiency for pathologists. And for us as a company, that’s what we rally around: driving up the usage. Everything will cascade from both the clinical and economic impacts and the success of Ibex as a company.

Bashe:  Joseph, thank you for your insights – practical guidance on how AI accelerates decisions that save lives. You and your colleagues are drilling down into an area that is one of the most expensive areas of health: managing people with cancer. It’s one of the most terrifying diseases, where people want to know that they have an authoritative diagnosis and where pathologists and oncologists don’t want to screw it up. You are enabling people to be much more confident that the information they’re sharing with their patients and their clinical decisions is on point, not because of their own life experience or clinical experience. But the data is there to back them up. It doesn’t get much more practical than that.

Futurists have the advantage of rarely being wrong.  Long after they’ve shared their predictions, the world moves along. People forget, and the edgy on-stage comment is forgotten.  Pathologists can never be wrong. When they are, it’s considered an error – sometimes with dire consequences.  The possibility of combining knowledge – trained and honed – with the aggregated intelligence of pattern recognition offers pathologists and their health professional community an added advantage.  Ibex AI demonstrates not what is possible – what is happening now. 

The concept of the future is always inviting and exciting.  The difference between invention and innovation is scaled application.  AI, ChatGPT and GenAI applied play to the strength of the curious and bold. Using these technologies can democratize information for humanity’s benefit.

The post Don’t Crystal Ball Patients’ Futures – AI Delivers Accuracy Right Now appeared first on Medika Life.

Perhaps all we heard from the title and the take away is “I want it now.” When it comes to science and public health, that’s a mega problem. When do I want it? Now!

Clinical Trials Usually Take Years.  Enter Operation Warp Speed

How long do or should clinical trials take – well, it depends – but often years. Science takes time. It demands rigor and objectivity. It’s not a “now” pursuit. It’s why so many potential medicines fail to advance through clinical stages to our medicine chests as physicians and patients work diligently to evaluate their safety, effectiveness and long-term risks in observational studies. 

For example, the research into drugs to reduce life-threatening high cholesterol spans decades.  Many think of the incredible drugs now available as generic, which fueled continued research. Few think of the game-changing Framingham Heart Study or the groundbreaking and Nobel Prize-level work of scientists Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein. There is beauty to science.  In the famed Academy Award-winning movie The Agony and the Ecstasy with Charlton Heston, as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison playing Pope Julius II, Heston’s character is constantly asked by Harrison, when will the Sistine Chapel ceiling be completed.  The artist replies: “When it’s done.”  That’s science!

It’s possible that COVID threw science – the purity of the art of discovery to improve humanity’s lot – out with the peer-review bathwater.  Everyone is at fault in some way. Government agencies, elected officials, public health champions, media, and, yes, the public are all part of the now movement.  We all wanted a biomedical elixir to ward off the virus NOW! We have been conditioned to get what we want quickly.  We order online at Grub Hub or Amazon, and within hours – a day tops – a vehicle pulls up to our doorstep.  NOW!

Now, how about COVID? We expected salvation at warp speed.  Companies no longer wait to share data at peer-review forums or in top-notch journals.  When the public cries out, we send out a press release. We expect answers from pharma, the White House and CDC immediately. We moved to evaluate, approve and move to rally people to access the COVID vaccines a mere 13 months after trial initiation. The mRNA vaccine became the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine on August 23, 2021.  That’s the equivalent of now when it comes to drug development.

It Takes Years to Develop a Vaccine – NOW?

In comparison, the usual vaccine development timeline is five to 10 years and sometimes longer to determine if a product is safe and efficacious in clinical trials, completes the required regulatory approval processes, and a manufacturer has a sufficient quantity of vaccine doses for public access.  COVID broke the previous record of four years set by the development of a mumps vaccine in the 1960s.

But there are reasons we were able to go fast. The infectious disease community is collaborative. There are previous models of engagement, We have technologies that enable us to screen options that didn’t exist in the 1960s. It’s impossible to compare apples to apples or oranges. The times have changed. Science can move faster; however, objectivity and peer review remain musts.

Don’t point the finger of blame at any one institution or segment of the process.  Everyone created and bought into this urge for now!  We were frightened for our survival, mental health and economies.  The White House was responding to public pressure.  Events changed rapidly, and so did the news flow.  Media leaped into the fray to bring out their wagons of consulting experts aboard, with varied opinions to keep eyes glued to screens. Researchers slept at lab benches to sustain the world – to ward off the – then-deadly pandemic. 

We cannot forget that while we criticize the scientific process and unknown long-term effects of these vaccines, the “power of now” drives decisions and actions.  We cannot forget that the ERs were filling up, and people were dying at the start of the pandemic.  We were scared, and fear ignited non-reflective action. Countless public health challenges were pressing – addiction, poverty, isolation and more. We needed a response. Sometimes the process is imperfect. Let’s not forget to evaluate how all this impacted science and apply the learnings in the future.

Tech as a Scientific Accelerator

Technology has become the gas pedal for science.  AI, AR, machine learning, and big data are all variations of the same concept, but technology does enable scientists to move rapidly. The urgency to offer hope tips the hat to companies being permitted to update the public via news releases and later share detailed information in a peer-review setting. Industry scientists yearn to help sustain lives. Everyone had good intentions. However, we need to find better balance and return to a culture that encourages objective reflection and third-party (even uncensored) pushback,

The Power of Now was geared to get us to think beyond the moment.  To consider who we are and our purpose in the world.  However, like most things, we commercialize good ideas. COVID left too many casualties – most important among them precious people and, yes – scientific exchange.  Now is a competitive advantage – often a first-to-market must.  However, science is a reflective task accelerated by technology. 

Let’s Open the Door to the Power of Options

The Power of Now has given way to the Power of Options, a concept shared by David Noble and Carol Kauffman in the recent issue of HBR. Scientists remain societal leaders.  Scientists are curious and explorers.  We must encourage scientists to create their life-saving magic in coordination with the checks and balances of their peer-review culture.

The post How COVID and the Power of Now Killed Scientific Peer Review appeared first on Medika Life.

Nasopharyngeal swabs are the most effective means of detecting COVID-19 infection, offering detection rates of 92 to 100 percent. That’s the conclusion of Cornell University (USA) researchers.

COVID test accuracy

The scientists obtained samples from patients; more specifically, they got four types of specimens:

• Nasopharyngeal swabs (the Q-tip-like collector goes deep into your nose)
• Anterior nares swabs (front of the nostril)
• Saliva
• Sublingual swabs(under the tongue)

The researchers obtained the samples from individuals with symptoms, individuals without symptoms, and subjects who had recovered from illness.

Covid detection rates by test type

Let’s look at the results by test type:

The nasopharyngeal samples had the best detection rate, from 92 to 100 percent. This high detection rate seems logical, as the COVID virus replicates in the uppermost portion of the nose.

Samples from the front of the nostril and saliva proved fairly good, too; about 92 to 96 percent effective for patients with symptoms. On the other hand, when patients had no symptoms, these approaches worked 75 to 92 percent of the time.

Under the tongue sampling proved suboptimal, with detection rates of only 40 to 60 percent for patients with symptoms and 25 to 42 percent for those without symptoms.

Overall, detection rates appeared highest for those with symptoms, ranging from 92 to 100 percent. The detection rate dropped to 75 to 96 percent for those without symptoms. Finally, once a patient no longer had symptoms, detection proved challenging.

I find nasopharyngeal swab tests — wherein the swab is sent far back inside the nostril — dreadful. But this approach is more effective at finding COVID-19 than are swabs put just inside the nose, swabs under the tongue, or saliva tests.

Fortunately, samples obtained from the front of the nose are reasonably accurate (and easier to perform). Study researcher Diego Diel offers this relevant observation:

“We were surprised at the short time in which infectious virus was detected. The data aligns with current US Centers for Disease Control guidelines and its decision to decrease patient isolation periods from an initial 14-day period to 10 and ultimately to five.”

Here’s a piece I wrote earlier on long COVID:

Long Covid: Could This Be Why?MICROCLOTS. COULD THEY EXPLAIN the mystery of why some who get a COVID19 infection suffer for long periods? Three…medium.com

The post Covid Testing: Are Nasal Swabs Good? appeared first on Medika Life.

AUSTIN, TEXAS AND FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. (May 11, 2022) – Babson Diagnostics, a science-first, health care technology company, and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced the expansion of a strategic partnership to move blood sample collection into new care settings, including enabling patients to collect blood samples at home for diagnostic testing.

Since 2019, the two companies have collaborated to create a capillary blood collection and testing system, now in advanced development, to enable laboratory-quality, small-volume capillary blood collection at retail settings by team members with no previous experience in blood collection. Plans under the expanded agreement include continuing research and development to enable self-collection, mobile services and at-home collection. Babson and BD also will expand the types of blood tests that are possible through small-volume blood collection beyond primary care-oriented tests, and they also plan to develop diagnostic tests for pediatric use.

“Today’s agreement expands our long-standing partnership with BD and builds on our shared passion of making convenient blood testing accessible to all, not only in the U.S., but also globally,” said David Stein, chief executive officer of Babson Diagnostics. “Extending the medical home is critical in today’s health care environment. We believe that retail convenience is perfect for today’s consumer, but because the Babson service is well-suited to many settings with no need for a phlebotomist and an easier collection experience, we see many opportunities for future expansion.”

Over this long-term collaboration, Babson and BD are advancing development of the blood testing ecosystem, which includes BD’s next generation capillary collection technology and Babson’s proprietary automated sample-handling and analytical technologies. These have been designed to work together to enable blood testing that requires only one-tenth the sample volume of traditional venipuncture methods without sacrificing quality, accuracy, or the number and types of tests that are possible.

“This is a paradigm-shifting solution that addresses multiple unmet needs within the current health care system,” said Brooke Story, president of Integrated Diagnostics Solutions for BD. “Because it is less invasive and more convenient than the traditional venous blood draw method, capillary blood collection may lead to an improved patient experience, which in turn could help health care providers see better compliance among patients for routine blood testing.”

BD brings 70 years of specimen management experience to the partnership and is a leader in blood collection technology, including the development of the new, state-of-the-art capillary collection device[i]. Babson provides deep instrument analyzer expertise and is building an ecosystem for blood collection in the pharmacy setting as well as designing the systems and workflows to analyze small volume capillary blood in a central lab. Babson continues to work with local and national pharmacy chains to conduct extensive clinical studies of its service platform in preparation for commercial launch.

[i] The capillary collection device is an investigational device under 21 C.F.R. 812 and requires additional studies to make any definitive conclusions about safety or efficacy

The post Babson Diagnostics, BD Expand Strategic Partnership to Advance Diagnostic Blood Collection in New Care Settings appeared first on Medika Life.

The Silicon Valley startup Theranos acquired near-mythical status in part because of the charisma of its young leader, Elizabeth Holmes. Unfortunately, the promise — that vital health information could be obtained from a small drop of blood using handheld devices — appears to have been a lie.

Not a reader? I’ve got you covered. You should soon have a new feature film from “The Big Short” writer and director Adam McKay. The future movie stars Jennifer Lawrence as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.

Now comes a proof-of-concept for the ability of a single blood drop to detect lung cancer in individuals who exhibit no symptoms of the disease.

Metabolomics — An emerging science

Let’s look at the study, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Harvard-affiliated researchers built a lung-cancer predictive model based on metabolomics profiles in blood. What does that mean?

Metabolomics analyzes cell metabolite flows to discern healthy and pathological states by focusing on the metabolome — the dynamic biochemical system found in all of our cells, fluids, and tissues. This exciting emerging field is new to me, too.

The way I see it, with metabolomics, scientists are comprehensively measuring all metabolites and smaller molecules in a biological specimen. A kind of systemic engineering at the most granular level.

Now things are about to get more interesting. When lung cancer is present, the altered physiology of the cells can lead to changes in blood metabolites made (or consumed) by cancer cells in the lungs.

Metabolomics — Finding lung cancer

The Harvard researchers examined metabolomic profiles in blood using high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This tool can examine a massive array of compounds inside living cells by measuring the collective reactions of the metabolites.

Researchers screened tens of thousands of blood samples saved at hospital biobanks. They found 25 patients with non-small cell lung cancer with stored blood specimens obtained at diagnosis and at least six months before diagnosis.

Here’s how the scientists did their work:

1. Trained their statistical model to recognize lung cancer by measuring metabolomic profile values in blood samples from 25 patients during their lung cancer diagnosis.
2. Compare #1 to blood samples from 25 healthy controls.
3. Validate the model using blood from the same patients but obtained before a lung cancer diagnosis.

It worked. For the third, the predictive model gave results between the healthy controls and the patients at diagnosis.

For additional validation, the researcher applied the model to a different group of 54 patients with lung cancer, using blood obtained before their diagnosis. The model’s predictions again appeared accurate.

Metabolomics — Into the future

As a doctor involved in cancer care, I find this preliminary research extraordinarily exciting. In addition to creating the potential to detect cancer early, the researchers also showed that values from the predictive model measured from prior-to-diagnosis blood samples could also predict five-year survival for patients.

Previously, the investigators had shown the potential for magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabolomics to differentiate cancer types and stages of diseases. They have also shown some ability to distinguish between indolent prostate cancer (which can be monitored) and cancer requiring treatment.

The same group will apply metabolomics to look for Alzheimer’s dementia clues in spinal fluid and blood samples.

AT RISK OF SOUNDING LIKE someone in Silicon Valley creating secrets and lies about the promise of a drop of blood, I share this: Harvard researchers may have a new diagnostic blood test that opens the door to the early detection of lung cancer.

You probably got the Silicon Valley (USA) reference, but if not, here is your go-to book (full disclosure — I would love it if you bought it from your local bookseller):Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley StartupBad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup – Kindle edition by Carreyrou, John. Download it once and read…www.amazon.com

The Silicon Valley startup Theranos acquired near-mythical status in part because of the charisma of its young leader, Elizabeth Holmes. Unfortunately, the promise — that vital health information could be obtained from a small drop of blood using handheld devices — appears to have been a lie.

Not a reader? I’ve got you covered. You should soon have a new feature film from “The Big Short” writer and director Adam McKay. The future movie stars Jennifer Lawrence as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.

Now comes a proof-of-concept for the ability of a single blood drop to detect lung cancer in individuals who exhibit no symptoms of the disease.

Metabolomics — An emerging science

Let’s look at the study, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Harvard-affiliated researchers built a lung-cancer predictive model based on metabolomics profiles in blood. What does that mean?

Metabolomics analyzes cell metabolite flows to discern healthy and pathological states by focusing on the metabolome — the dynamic biochemical system found in all of our cells, fluids, and tissues. This exciting emerging field is new to me, too.

The way I see it, with metabolomics, scientists are comprehensively measuring all metabolites and smaller molecules in a biological specimen. A kind of systemic engineering at the most granular level.

Now things are about to get more interesting. When lung cancer is present, the altered physiology of the cells can lead to changes in blood metabolites made (or consumed) by cancer cells in the lungs.

Metabolomics — Finding lung cancer

The Harvard researchers examined metabolomic profiles in blood using high-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This tool can examine a massive array of compounds inside living cells by measuring the collective reactions of the metabolites.

Researchers screened tens of thousands of blood samples saved at hospital biobanks. They found 25 patients with non-small cell lung cancer with stored blood specimens obtained at diagnosis and at least six months before diagnosis.

Here’s how the scientists did their work:

1. Trained their statistical model to recognize lung cancer by measuring metabolomic profile values in blood samples from 25 patients during their lung cancer diagnosis.
2. Compare #1 to blood samples from 25 healthy controls.
3. Validate the model using blood from the same patients but obtained before a lung cancer diagnosis.

It worked. For the third, the predictive model gave results between the healthy controls and the patients at diagnosis.

For additional validation, the researcher applied the model to a different group of 54 patients with lung cancer, using blood obtained before their diagnosis. The model’s predictions again appeared accurate.

Metabolomics — Into the future

As a doctor involved in cancer care, I find this preliminary research extraordinarily exciting. In addition to creating the potential to detect cancer early, the researchers also showed that values from the predictive model measured from prior-to-diagnosis blood samples could also predict five-year survival for patients.

Previously, the investigators had shown the potential for magnetic resonance spectroscopy-based metabolomics to differentiate cancer types and stages of diseases. They have also shown some ability to distinguish between indolent prostate cancer (which can be monitored) and cancer requiring treatment.

The same group will apply metabolomics to look for Alzheimer’s dementia clues in spinal fluid and blood samples.

The post Detecting Cancer With a Blood Drop appeared first on Medika Life.

It is hard now to worry when Texas Covid cases look like this:

I know I am not alone. Every day at least one friend sends me a text message asking how to get a Covid test. Home testing is an easy solution to help people decide if they can go to work or take the kids to school. Home Covid tests also give us the peace of mind to know we are not carrying the virus.  

The BinaxNOW Covid-19 Antigen Card offered by Abbott labs is an at-home test available for purchase at most pharmacies. My fully-vaxxed family keeps one box at home at all times to help us make responsible decisions. We want to stay safe, but we want to ensure we do not infect anyone else if we contract the virus. 

The most important action we can take to stay safe and to protect others is to get a vaccine against Covid-19. But as Covid cases surge across the US, breakthrough cases will occur. A breakthrough case is when someone who has already been vaccinated tests positive for Covid-19. 

To slow the spread of Covid-19, protect others, and prevent the emergence of new variants, we must use all the tools in our toolbelt. Accurate, rapid home tests provide reliable results as fast as possible to help us keep our businesses open, reopen schools and help fight the pandemic spread.

BinaxNow is a step in the right direction.

In scientific terms, the BinaxNow test is a lateral flow immunoassay that detects the nucleocapsid protein antigen from SARS-CoV-2. In simples terms, it works like a home pregnancy test. 

This test is approved for symptomatic and asymptomatic people under an FDA Emergency Use Authorization. Anyone can use this test at home and get reliable results within 15 minutes. 

Prices vary depending on the store. I found them for $19 at Walmart and $23 at CVS and Walgreens.

Here are the valuable BinaxNow features:

1. Fast results. Abbott’s rapid antigen test provides results within 15 minutes.
2. Accurate results. The test is highly accurate when testing symptomatic patients within seven days of the onset of symptoms. The data reported to the FDA shows a sensitivity of 97.1% and a specificity of 98.5% among people who have symptoms of Covid-19. 
3. Pain-free nasal swab. This technology does not require the tickle-your-brain deep nasopharyngeal swab like the PCR tests. A simple, painless nose swab is used to collect the testing specimen about 1/2 inch into the nostril.
4. Users may choose to upload the results to the Navica app to meet international travel requirements. 

BinaxNow can detect multiple variants of Covid-19, including the delta variant. The company website reports, “ Abbot conducted a computational analysis of the detection of multiple SARS-COV-2 strains, including the Delta variant, and predicts no impact to the performance of our BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Antigen Self Test.”

The test results will show as positive or negative. BinaxNow will not determine which variant is causing the positive result.

What Covid-19 tests are available now?

There are three categories of Covid-19 tests. Each works in different ways to detect evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

1. Antibody testing detects a past infection and potential immunity. People developed antibodies after natural Covid infection or after immunization. 
2. Molecular testing(PCR) detects genetic material from the virus to determine if someone has the virus right now. PCR testing is the gold standard of testing. 
3. Antigen testing detects the fragmented pieces of the virus that trigger an immune response. Like PCR testing, antigen testing is used to detect an active infection but can be done much faster. 

BinaxNow uses antigen detection. Antigen testing is less accurate than PCR testing. Antigen tests look for pieces of the virus. They are less accurate than traditional molecular PCR testing, which looks for the virus’s genetic material.

The test offers tremendous value because it can be done at home without having to go to a doctor, hospital, or lab. With results available in 15 minutes, families can make real-time decisions regarding their behavior.

The recommendation is to repeat the BinaxNow test after 36 hours. This dual testing strategy helps overcome the slightly lower detection rate of antigen testing over PCR testing. Each testing kit comes with two tests to make the process easy. 

How do you perform a BinaxNow home Covid test?

Instructions for use:

1. Wash and dry your hands. 
2. Take one test, one bottle, one swab, and the 15-minute timer.
3. Lay the card flat on a table. 
4. Verify there is a blue line in the control line of the results window to verify the test is functional 
5. Open the test card and avoid touching the test strip. 
6. Place six drops from the dropper bottle into the top hole.
7. Collect the samples by inserting the swab 1/2 inch into the nostril, making five circles over 15 seconds. Repeat the process in the other nostril.
8. Insert the swab tip into the second hole and slide up until you see the swab tip in the first hole. Make three clockwise circles and leave the swab in place while the test performs.

9. Close the test card and press down on the right edge to seal it.

10. Wait 15 minutes to check the results. 

A positive result will have two lines and look like this example taken from the company website. 

We all must do our part to help protect ourselves and others. Every person can help slow the spread by taking practical steps to protect themselves and others. 

Getting vaccinated is the most effective way to keep yourself safe. For those who do not believe they need a Covid-19 vaccine for their protection, we ask you to get a vaccine to protect others and prevent the emergence of new dangerous variants. 

A virus that can not spread can not mutate. Children who are too young to get a vaccine and immunocompromised people need your help. Wearing a mask and washing our hands are two other tools we can use to slow the spread.

Home Antigen testing is an excellent option to help us assess our risk. Anytime we have symptoms, we can get accurate results in 15 minutes. These tests help us make real-time decisions about going to work or sending our children to school.

The post How Do You Do a Test at Home for COVID-19 and Is BinaxNow Worth the Money? appeared first on Medika Life.

In a recent interview, the so-called “Batwoman” as she is referred to, Chinese virologist, Dr. Shi Zhengli, spoke to a New York Times reporter to offer her side of the story. We think she should have maintained her silence as it is doubtful she will be given a fair hearing by a largely illiterate press. Figure out that oxymoron!

The story of the moment becomes the narrative the press promotes and we suggest, based on their dubious track record over the last year, that they should keep their opinions and let science get on with what it does best. They are ill-placed and apparently ill-equipped to distinguish fact from fiction or engage in simple reporting.

Who is Dr. Shi Zhengli, and what does she have to say?

She started out as a research assistant at the Wuhan Institute for Virology (WIV), with a focus on aquatic viruses. She trained in France and later pivoted to bats in 2004 after SARS broke out. She is widely recognized as a leader in the field and is a generous collaborator. She is not a Chinese Communist Party member.

To facilitate her research, she has spent years collecting bats from caves across China, investigating how the coronavirus can jump from animal to human, and she embraces the term many now use to refer to her, “Batwoman”. She is driven, highly educated, and passionate about her work.

“In all the work we do, if just once you can prevent the outbreak of an illness, then what we’ve done will be very meaningful”

Here are some of the statements she made to New York Times reporter, Amy Qin, in their recent telephone conversation.

• She has denied reports that three workers at the WIV were sick with flulike symptoms in Nov 2019 and she asked for their names.

“We were sitting in a meeting and wondering who these people could be,” she said.

• On Gain-of-Function (GOF) research, she said her research did not count as GOF because she did not set out to make a virus more dangerous, but to understand how it might jump across species.
• She also addressed concerns about biosafety and said she would publish more about an incident relating to the Yunnan miners soon.

What emerges from the interview, according to Qin, is that Dr. Shi Zhengli is now feeling angered and anguished. She is drawing a clear line in the sand, identifying science and the rest of the word as two distinct entities. She states that any future engagement will be with her colleagues and the field of science.

It’s not difficult to see why she feels let down or why the world may view her opinions as suspect.

The Covid pandemic has become many things over the last year and a half. It has been politicized and weaponized by almost every segment of our global communities, appropriated for their own agendas, none of which recognize or respect science. In fact, few even begin to understand the complex issues that lie at the heart of the virus’s origins, but that matters little.

In Shi’s own words;

“This is no longer a question of science. It is speculation rooted in utter distrust.”

Can we believe her?

It’s impossible to say, for a number of reasons. Firstly and most troubling, is China itself. They’re not known for their transparency and have closed ranks over Wuhan, the laboratory, and its research. Dr. Zhengli may very well want to share additional research with her international colleagues but that would undoubtedly require Beijing’s consent.

It’s doubtful at this point if they would be accommodating. Pandemic relationships with China became immensely strained under the Trump regime and haven’t improved under Biden. Under normal circumstances, the flow of scientific information between China and its Western counterparts is actually remarkably transparent.

The second issue revolves around science itself. It’s a tedious and painstaking process to track down the source of any virus. While well-documented evidence from renowned virologists tends to suggest that the SARS-CoV2 virus is natural, there is also evidence that suggests it has been with us for a lot longer than we previously thought.

So most of the valid virology voices seem to support Dr. Zhengli’s statements. The simple fact is this. We just don’t know enough or have access to sufficient evidence to be able to make any claims relating to a laboratory leak or any other theory. More time is required and more research, based on real science, needs to be performed.

This takes time, sometimes years, and into the black void, created by a lack of information, step the press. If they cannot report news, well then, why not create it. That is not the role of any responsible or ethical journalist. Sadly, the media industry has proven itself to be utterly bereft of any morals and they will continue to muddy the waters with unsubstantiated and misinterpreted data.

Watch this space as the press, quacks, hacks, and pseudo-scientists set about the word by dissection and dismemberment of Dr. Shi Zhengli and her statements.

The post Dr. Shi Zhengli, Wuhan’s Batwoman Speaks Out on Covid and Lab Leak Theory appeared first on Medika Life.

Dr. Gerardine Gerri Botte, a professor of chemical engineering at Texas Tech University’s Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering, announced UFC-19, an ultra-fast Covid-19 detection sensor. This test can detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in saliva in 100 milliseconds.

The product developed results from a partnership between Texas Tech faculty research and the university’s entrepreneurial program accessible through Texas Tech’s Innovation Hub at Research Park.

The Innovation Hub is a resource within Texas Tech designed to nurture budding entrepreneurs. Students and faculty can tap the available resources for funding and mentorship. The 40,000 square-foot Innovation Hub helps entrepreneurs form new technology startup companies.

Dr. Gerardine Gerri Botte. Dr. Botte used her expertise in chemical engineering to found a biotech company called EviroTech. She joined the Texas Tech Division of Chemical Engineering in 2019. She has extensive research experience and is an entrepreneur.

Evirotech, in partnership with the Innovation Hub, received working capital from the Department of Defense and other sources such as the Prototype Fund, Presidents’ Innovation Award, and the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) works with the Department of Defense (DoD) “to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security.”

Evirontech patented the technology. The company has applied to the US Food and Drug Administration for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). If approved, people would have the option of rapid home testing that can sync directly to their phones. An accurate, easy-to-use home test will help people make safety decisions for themselves and their families.

EviroTech announced a four-million-dollar investment from German company 1701 Ventures GmbH to help the project get off the ground. This capital will allow EviroTech to begin production and distribution.

Scaling up rapid and frequent testing may be one of the tools the world needs to reopen fully. Covid-19 vaccines and immunity from natural infection have made a significant dent in Covid-19 cases. Texas has confirmed almost 2.5 million cases so far and currently is averaging about 1000 cases per day. At the same time, the rise of Covid-19 variants rages out of control in India and Brazil.

Covid testing has slowed in Texas, but it remains a crucial element in our fight against the pandemic. Testing allows doctors to diagnose and treat those who have Covid-19. Testing enables health workers to do contact tracing and find others who may have been exposed. Testing with genetic sequencing provides information to the public health system to track trends in specific communities.

University researchers across Texas have provided crucial data and cutting-edge innovations to assist public health experts in the fight against Covid-19.

Researchers at Texas A&M University recently identified a new Covid-19 variant called BV-1 by performing genetic sequencing on Covid strains from severe, mild, and asymptomatic infections. UT Southwestern genetic scientists in Dallas identified the first North Texas case of the Brazil P.1 Covid-19.

Texas Tech University’s collaboration to create the UFC-19 Ultra-fast Covid-19 detection sensor could be a way for public health experts to track the prevalence of the disease going forward. The ultra-fast COVID-19 sensor is an antigen-based electrochemical device. Antigen testing detects SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins at an early stage of infection.

Antigen testing is less expensive than PCR tests. It also detects active disease, unlike antibody tests which show evidence of a past Covid-19 infection. The UFC-19 Ultra Fast antigen detection sensor uses saliva instead of a deep sala swab.

A negative antigen test is slightly less accurate than a PCR test, but antigen testing is highly accurate at detecting if someone has an active COVID-19 infection. Antigen testing can also be performed as a point-of-care test. The UFC-19 Ultra Fast test results are available in 100 milliseconds.

The CDC has provided guidance on how to interpret rapid antigen testing.

As the US economy reopens, a scalable, rapid-testing solution could help schools, summer camps, airports, concert venues, and other public gatherings get back to normal. Individuals would have the ability to test themselves at home to detect an early, asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and prevent spreading the disease.

The UFC-19 Ultra Fast test requires only the detection sensor, a drop of saliva, and a cell phone. An individual would have the test results in seconds.

Take a tour of the Texas Tech Innovation Hub at Research Park here.

The post Texas Tech Professor Invents Game-Changing Ultra Rapid Covid-19 Sensor appeared first on Medika Life.

FORT COLLINS, Colo, /PRNewswire/ — GT Molecular, a leader in wastewater-based epidemiological testing, has reported the detection of hyper-transmissible SARS-CoV-2 from the B.1.1.7 lineage in three wastewater treatment plants in the United States. This is an additional piece of evidence that the UK variant or a UK variant-like strain is spreading in the United States. GT Molecular detected the strain using its highly sensitive digital PCR test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This test is available immediately both as a fee-for-service and as a complete, ready-to-use PCR kit for testing labs.

“Molecular biologists from around the world have come together to advance wastewater-based epidemiological approaches over the last year. This is an excellent demonstration of the power of these approaches, wherein an entire community can be tested for the presence of a variant in a single sample in a matter of hours,” says, Dr. Rose Nash, Director of R&D at GT Molecular.

GT Molecular will continue to screen communities around the country for the presence of this variant in their community wastewater through their nationwide wastewater testing program. Additionally, GT Molecular will provide the molecular reagents they designed and optimized for this analysis to the greater wastewater-based epidemiology community.

“Our team continues to respond rapidly to this pandemic by releasing both a fee-for-service test for communities and an all-in-one PCR kit for testing labs for this dangerous variant,” says GT Molecular CEO Christopher McKee. “Our new analysis will allow communities and testing labs to quickly determine whether the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant is present while giving health officials timely data to make decisions that can better help manage outbreaks.”

About GT Molecular

Whether for cancer, GMO or harmful pathogens, GT Molecular (GTM) is a leader in providing highly customizable, ultrasensitive digital PCR and qPCR tests for researchers and the Molecular Diagnostics community. GTM’s molecular app technology is an easy-to-use, end-to-end solution for rapid deployment and provides reliable and consistent measurements while detecting as little as 1-3 molecules of target nucleic acid.

The SARS-CoV-2 B1.1.7 (UK Variant) test is available immediately both as a fee-for-service and as a complete, ready-to-use PCR kit for testing labs.

ORDER & INFORMATION: info@gtmolecular.com 
970-498-1698

www.gtmolecular.com

SOURCE GT Molecular

The post Hyper-Transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Variant Detected in U.S. Wastewater appeared first on Medika Life.