OriCiro Genomics has launched the OriCiro Cell-Free Switching system. The new product allows users to switch plasmid DNA amplification from living cells to OriCiro's cell-free, enzymatic amplification system. The technology is based on the company's in vitro propagation process, which uses more than 20 proteins involved in E. coli genome propagation.

Padma Kodukula has joined A-Alpha Bio as chief business officer. She will be responsible for executing the company's overall corporate and business strategy, in particular the development and expansion of strategic partnerships with pharma and biotech firms. She comes to A-Alpha Bio from Precision NanoSystems, which was acquired by Danaher in June, where she closed various business partnerships. Prior to that, she held business development roles at Human Longevity, Life Technologies, and Prometheus Laboratories. Kodukula holds a PhD in immunology from the University of Chicago and an MBA from San Diego State University.

Joseph Arron has been appointed as CSO of 23andMe. Previously, he was VP and senior fellow of immunology research at Genentech, which he joined in 2006. In his new role, he will determine and prioritize 23andMe's therapeutic programs and indications, including drug discovery and target validation efforts. He will also lead the firm's scientific teams across multiple medical areas, including immuno-oncology, immunology, respiratory disease, and cardiovascular disease. Arron holds an MD/PhD from Cornell University Medical College and Rockefeller University and an undergraduate degree from Princeton University.

Aiming to increase test performance, the developers are integrating separate sensors to detect protein and nucleic acid biomarkers for SARS-CoV-2 in a single platform.

The assay, which runs on the company's Idylla platform, distinguishes sepsis from noninfectious systemic inflammation.

NPR reports that SARS-CoV-2 testing in the US has gotten better but also that some experts say more needs to be done to better track the Omicron variant.

The Associated Press reports that Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes has testified at her wire fraud trial that her business and romantic partner abused her.

While Black and Hispanic patients are more likely to participate in cancer clinical trials than previously, they are still underrepresented, according to US News & World Report.

In PNAS this week: gene silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, possible neuroprotective role for SHFL in a mouse model of Zika virus infection, and more.

Scipher Medicine has appointed Sam Asgarian as its chief medical officer. He joins the company after serving as chief medical officer at Thrive Earlier Detection, a subsidiary of Exact Sciences. Prior to that, he also held leadership roles at Aetna, serving as vice president of transformation health products and services and vice president and chief medical officer for consumer health products and services.

The CE marking covers the benchtop instrument, reagents, and consumables, which DNA Script will now begin selling commercially within Europe.

Bionano Genomics has appointed Keith Gligorich as VP of operations for Bionano Laboratories.

Gligorich comes to Bionano from Guardant Health, where he built a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited lab for blood-based early cancer detection testing. He has also held leadership roles at ARUP Laboratories, Navican Genomics, and Cradle Genomics.

He holds a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Utah.

Inflammatix has appointed Kian Beyzavi as an independent member of its board of directors. Beyzavi started her career at management consulting firm McKinsey and has more than 25 years of experience as a venture investor, entrepreneur, consultant, and general manager at Rho Ventures, Cubit Software, Medtronic, Abbott Diabetes Care, and Novartis Diagnostics.

For the past 10 years, she led a specialized consulting firm advising Fortune 500 companies, startups, and others about strategy, product development, business model innovation, commercialization, and monetization of opportunities across life sciences. Beyzavi is a venture partner at multistage investment firm Cota Capital.

In September, Exact hired 400 former Pfizer sales reps who were displaced from their jobs in late August and who had been promoting Cologuard.

Vizgen has added Susan Tousi as a scientific advisor.

Tousi is Illumina's Chief Commercial Officer and was previously that firm's chief product officer. She has also held leadership positions at Eastman Kodak and Hewlett-Packard.

Tousi has an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Pacific Biosciences has appointed Jason Kang as VP and general manager for the Asia-Pacific region.

Kang brings more than 25 years of experience in the genomics industry. He led Illumina's commercial operations in South Korea for six years and launched his own company, Helixrus, which distributed large-scale population genomics and clinical sequencing software for single-cell RNA and rare disease sequencing. He has also held positions at Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Macrogen, and Spectral Genomics.

Kang holds a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from Thomas Jefferson University.

The company saw the largest increase in its IVD business, driven by sales of the S5 sequencing instrument and its 8-gene Lung Cancer Assay.

The collaborators aim to develop tools that combine AI with radiomic, genetic, and metabolomic biomarkers for lung cancer screening.

The company said the certification would allow it to support later-stage clinical trials with its biopharma partners and was a step toward advancing its platform for clinical use.

The UK recently implemented regulations requiring antigen-based and molecular COVID-19 tests to undergo a desktop review in order to be sold in the region.

The spatial transcriptomic approach described by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology-led team combines in situ RNA data with high-resolution histological images.

Building on earlier work supported by the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK, the partners will create an app to aggregate and analyze clinical, genomic, and imaging data.

The plaintiff has sued at least 10 other companies for infringing the patent, which relates to connecting a device to a communication network.

The World Health Organization has called Omicron a SARS-CoV-2 "variant of concern," the Los Angeles Times writes.

Merck's pill to treat COVID-19 reduces the risk of hospitalization and death among COVID-19 patients by less than previously reported, the New York Times says.