Jun 26, 2020
Cheri Ackerman and Cameron
Myhrvold explain their innovative new system to test for multiple
viruses in one test.
They explain
- The overarching goal of low cost alongside high scale allowing multiple diagnostics at once,
- How a microwell array chip and criprs cas-13 work together in this test, and
- How the timing of this test works and their future goals.
Dr. Cheri Ackerman is the
cofounder and CEO of Concerto Biosciences and Dr. Cameron Myhrvold
is a post doc fellow at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In this podcast they
discuss their project to develop a new
virus diagnostic method that involves cripr.
While there are several standout attributes to this new diagnostic,
an integral element is that it tests for multiple
viruses at once. They explain that they wanted to answer what
is making a person sick by testing for different
viruses at the same time.
The technology can by summarized
as using crispr cas-13 diagnostics in a microwell array. This
allows different detection reactions for multiple
viruses and multiple patients at the same time. As with common
COVID
virus PCR tests, it starts with a nasal swab. After taking the
swab and performing sample preparation as with a PCR test, the
process starts to differ, specifically in two ways: the detection
is conducted with a small volume, which allows them to do many
tests on the same sample; second, the test allows for all of these
reactions to set themselves up on their own.
Detection regents and samples self-organize in a way that gets a
robust result that crispr cas-13, as an RNA target, allows. They
explain the method in more detail as well as goals for improvement,
including reducing the turnaround time from 7 to 3 hours. Listen
for more details about this exciting technology.
To keep tabs on this and related work, visit www.broadinstitute.org.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK