NIH has awarded four additional contracts for the development and scaled-up manufacturing of new COVID-19 diagnostic testing technologies through its Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Tech (RADx) initiative. The awards total $29.3 million and will help increase testing capacity for COVID-19.

ROSALIND, a software leader in extracting meaningful insights from diverse pools of life science data, today announced the launch of a web-based platform for monitoring the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and evaluating the effects on the performance of diagnostic tests. The new platform, called the ROSALIND Diagnostic Monitoring (DxM) system, is available starting today and will be used by diagnostic test manufacturers and regulators to monitor assay performance against the rapidly evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants. Source: Business Wire.

The development and authorization of COVID-19 POC and at-home tests has been remarkable; a process that can often take more than a year took only a few months in many cases. We believe that lessons learned from our experiences with COVID-19 could be leveraged to facilitate a large-scale effort for swift, widespread access to accurate and reliable tests for a variety of diseases. Source: Health Affairs.

Abnormal heart rhythms—cardiac arrhythmias—are a major worldwide health problem. Now scientists are using ultrasound for more accurate maps of arrhythmic sites in the heart for improved success of ablation procedures.

“The Biden administration is preparing to launch the first of several Covid-19 testing hubs to coordinate and oversee a $650 million expansion of testing in K-8 schools and congregate settings like homeless shelters.” HHS expects “to open the first hub in April, as part of a public-private partnership that could eventually add up to 25 million tests per month to the nation’s testing totals, two sources briefed on the plans told POLITICO.” This initiative “is the first attempt at formalizing a national testing strategy – something public-health experts have wanted for months.” It follows a marked decline in US COVID-19 testing from about 2 million per day in January to 1.5 million currently. The article mentions “Bruce Tromberg, a scientist at the National Institutes of Health who leads the federal government’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative.” Source: Politico

An NIH-funded research team has launched a study to assess performance and usability of a smartphone app paired with the Quidel QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test, which received FDA emergency use authorization for use with a prescription.

At the Feb 24, 2021, U.S. Congressional Optics & Photonics (O&P) Caucus launch event, NIBIB Director Bruce Tromberg spoke about the impact that optics and photonics technologies have had in advancing cutting-edge methods, discoveries and devices in biology and medicine. Source: Optics & Photonics.

Using Facebook-like algorithms, a bespoke microscope, and hefty doses of patience, a team of scientists has determined the brain structure of one of biology's most powerful model organisms, the transparent, millimeter-long nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Source: STAT Plus.

Studying the developing brain of a living animal has long been thought to be an almost impossible task thanks to the intricate tangle of neurons and vast labyrinth-like paths of connections that need to be imaged in real time. Source: BBC Science Focus.