Swiss proteomics firm Biognosys has appointed Beat Lüthi as board director. Lüthi is CEO of CTC Analytics, a privately held Swiss laboratory automation and sample handling technology company. He is also chairman of the board of Inficon Group; vice chairman of Straumann Group; and a board member at Skan AG. He holds an MSc in electrical engineering and a PhD in business administration from ETH Zurich.

Vela Diagnostics has launched the PathoKey MP UTI ID and AMR PCR test for research use only. This multiplex PCR-based test enables the simultaneous in vitro detection and differentiation of 14 pathogens that cause urinary tract infections, as well as 14 antimicrobial resistance genes encoding resistance to five antibiotics. The test is compatible with common real-time PCR platforms such as the Qiagen Rotor-Gene Q 5/6 plex platforms and Thermo Fisher Scientific QuantStudio 5 real-time PCR system. Vela said that its proprietary Sentosa SA201 Reporter can generate a report that consolidates pathogen and AMR results for each sample when used with the Sentosa SA201 or Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Dx platform.

The test can be implemented in an automated or manual workflow, Vela noted. Higher-throughput laboratories can choose from two of Vela's automated solutions, which incorporate the Sentosa SX101 instrument for extraction and PCR setup, generating a report within four hours with as little as 30 minutes of hands-on time. The second automated workflow includes the Thermo Fisher KingFisher Flex instrument for even higher throughput, Vela said.

The lead investigators have also spun out a company, Isabl, aiming to make the approach available to the broader community.

At the company’s London Calling user meeting this week, Chief Technology Officer Clive Brown announced early proof of concept for nanopore protein sequencing.

Tethis, a Milan, Italy-based liquid biopsy technology firm, has launched See.d, a universal blood sample prep platform for liquid biopsy. The research-use-only platform performs completely automated and standardized preparation of a blood sample at the point of collection. The platform processes fresh blood collected in EDTA tubes, and automates separation of plasma from cellular fraction, red blood cell lysis and removal, white blood cell dispensation and fixation on SBS slides, and plasma recovery in tubes. At the end of the process, the SBS slides with a fixed monolayer of all white blood cells is made available, and the relative plasma aliquot is provided in a separate tube, Tethis said. The SBS slides are compatible with all analytical pathology techniques, including cytology, immunocytochemistry, immunofluorescence, and fluorescence in situ hybridization for morphological and biomarker-based analysis, the company added. In addition, the plasma is stable for several days and ready for cell-free DNA extraction without any further centrifugation steps, the company said.

Tethis is currently validating the platform for CE-IVD marking, developing liquid biopsy tests, and seeking partnerships with diagnostic and drug-development companies, it said.

News items for the week of May 16, 2022.

Experts weigh the value of recent experiments testing genetically modified pig kidneys using brain-dead individuals, according to Nature News.

The New York Times reports that wastewater surveillance in some parts of the US point to a possible surge.

Due to the Northern Ireland protocol dispute, the European Union is preventing UK researchers from joining the Horizon Europe research program, the Times of London reports.

In Science this week: approach to enable a CRISPR-Cas13a-based system to be used as a cancer therapy.

Results are generated in a single workflow from a patient sample, which enables rapid detection for the differential diagnosis of a single pathogen.

The Bayesian model has shown robustness in heterogeneous cancer samples but can be applied to all sample types with matching scRNA-seq data as a reference.

Tests like MDxHealth's SelectMDx, Bio-Techne's ExoDx Prostate, and various PSA scoring algorithms would be reimbursed if they pass a technical assessment.

Histological profiling and RNA sequencing helped identify synovial biopsy features for predicting targeted biologic therapy response in rheumatoid arthritis.

In its new N+ program, Tempus will build a multimodal dataset from exome sequencing and patient records to inform drug discovery and mental health treatment.

Both tests rely on RT-PCR and are authorized for use with samples collected either in a healthcare setting or at home.

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has committed €8 million to the project to develop a new whole-genome sequencing assay called the Dante Citizen Test.

The researchers analyzed more than 28,000 cells using single-nucleus ATAC-seq to develop an atlas of genome accessibility.

The nine-institute organization, founded by Illumina, recently issued guidelines for the interpretation and reporting of clinical whole-genome sequencing tests.

Metabolon has appointed Sean Iverson as VP of global marketing. Iverson joins the company from Sophia Genetics, where he served as VP of global marketing. He has also held leadership roles with Danaher and Cisco Systems. Iverson holds an MBA in international marketing from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, a master's degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a bachelor's degree political science and Asian studies from Brigham Young University.

Starting with samples from 82 pediatric cases of B-cell or T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, researchers found widespread hypermethylation across ALL genomes.

The New York Times says that a case of monkeypox has now been reported in the US.

Wired writes that changes to US abortion laws could affect screening for fatal congenital conditions.