The Genomic Revolution Implications for Treatment and Control of Infectious Disease: Working Group Summaries (2006) / Chapter Skim
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Develop a Device to Rapidly and Sensitively Detect and Identify Pathogens in an Environment or Population, Spread Either Naturally or Through Deliberate Acts
Develop a Device to Rapidly and Sensitively Detect and Identify Pathogens in an Environment or Population, Spread Either Naturally or Through Deliberate Acts
Pages 41-48
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From page 41... ...
generally require high concentrations of the agent, involve complex labor-intensive processing, utilize several pieces of laboratory equipment, and must be executed by trained laboratory personnel. Such genomic methods as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
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From page 42... ...
The Problem · Is it possible to build a device to rapidly and sensitively detect and identify such pathogens as bacteria, viruses, or toxins in an environment or population spread either naturally or through deliberate acts? · Can genomics help differentiate between natural and deliberate disease outbreak and provide evidence for attribution?
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From page 43... ...
Microscale Life Sciences Center and Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington · George O'Toole, Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth Medical School · Jonathan Stroud, Graduate Student, Annenberg School of Journalism, University of Southern California · William Sullivan, Professor, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz · Joseph Vockley, Laboratory Director, Life Sciences Division, Science Applications International Corporation · Debra Weiner, Attending Physician, Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
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From page 44... ...
The group, consisting of doctors, scientists, executives, and engineers, worked to outline an approach to find the pathogens responsible for disease and effectively identify them, a technological challenge that if successful, could help prevent pandemics and minimize the effectiveness of future bioterrorist attacks. Genomics, the science of deciphering or reading the genetic alphabet, was the focus of the conference, and so the group utilized this rapidly advancing field, building strategies and methods to detect and identify biologic and toxic agents capable of producing disease.
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From page 45... ...
Ultimately, direct nucleic acid assays won out over the more conventional amplification assays that require the PCR to obtain adequate genetic material, or immunoassays that require recognition of specific molecular structures of a particular pathogen or agent. "You're not easily going to be able to detect a signal pathogen in most samples with an immunoassay," said Lloyd Whitman, a section head at the Naval Research Laboratory.
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From page 46... ...
The group ultimately identified a broad approach that would capture all these cases and address the current technology gaps in the process of treating an outbreak, a pandemic, or even the common cold. To address and organize what any future system might require, they began to devise a decision tree -- a basic flowchart -- that would describe a comprehensive process for detecting disease-causing agents.
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From page 47... ...
"Screening this way could improve diagnosis and treatment of infections as well as prevent infection," said Debra Weiner, attending physician at Children's Hospital Boston and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. "Having this kind of approach would help the implementation and development of novel antibiotics that are not based on killing the bacteria," said George O'Toole, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Dartmouth.
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From page 48... ...
48 THE GENOMIC REVOLUTION addressed a very important issue and that the presentation was a great cap to an important set of discussions. In summary, the conference gave these researchers a chance to share knowledge and ideas and led to crosstalk that in the future may lead to an all-encompassing approach to a difficult problem.
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