Research published inNature Communications, showed that the next generation platform
“Fast and accurate identification of positivesampling is critical in the fight against this pandemic, says Dr. Jeff Vrana, senior researcher at LTRI and professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. - New and potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus are currently circulating. The new scalable and automated platform is capable of analyzing thousands of COVID-19 patient samples in a single run. ”
The project involved a team of interns whomoved from other areas of research to help develop and validate the platform. This allowed the team to move from concept to published article in less than 12 months.
Javier Hernandez in this undated archive photograph at the Wrana lab at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto, Canada. Credit: Sinai Health.
At the end of 2020, the team decided againuse a robotics platform to screen thousands of positive samples for variants by quickly sequencing sections of the viral genome with fingerprints to look for key mutations.
The new SPAR-Seq system is cutting edgetechnology, and the ability to sequence samples in real time has enormous potential to influence scientists' understanding of epidemiology and the spread of new coronavirus mutations.
The platform is also economical. The study notes that when running thousands of samples at the same time, the cost of a single test is only about $ 8.
Read more
Physicists have created an analogue of a black hole and confirmed Hawking's theory. Where it leads?
Abortion and science: what will happen to the children who will give birth
A nuclear rocket engine is being built for flights to Mars. How is it dangerous?
Sinai Health System is a hospital system,which serves Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has two hospitals, Mount Sinai Hospital and Bridgepoint Active Healthcare, both owned by the University of Toronto School of Medicine.