MAY 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 53
tics that can be applied broadly in communities has never
been more urgent."
To showcase the platform's multi-diagnostic capa-
bilities, the team developed a strategy for rapidly testing
dozens of samples for the 169 human-associated viruses
that have more than 10 published genome sequences.
The researchers tested this detection panel against 58
patient samples, using multiple chips. They additionally
applied CARMEN on patient samples to differentiate be-
tween subtypes of influenza A strains and to detect drug-
resistance mutations in HIV.
The team also incorporated detection mixtures for
SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes
COVID-19—and other respiratory patho-
gens to demonstrate, using synthetic
viral sequences, how the assay can
be rapidly adapted to detect emerging
viruses. (Source: MIT News)
Researchers have developed a new technology that
flexibly scales up CRISPR-based molecular diagnostics,
using microfluidics chips that can run thousands of tests
simultaneously. A single chip's capacity ranges from de-
tecting a single type of virus in more than 1,000 samples
at a time to searching a small number of samples for more
than 160 different viruses, including the COVID-19 virus.
Called Combinatorial Arrayed Reactions for Multiplexed
Evaluation of Nucleic acids (CARMEN), this technology—
validated on patient samples—provides same-day re-
sults and could someday be harnessed for broad public-
health efforts. The work appears in Nature.
"The current pandemic has only un-
derscored that rapid and sensitive tools
are critical for diagnosing, surveilling,
and characterizing an infection within a
population," said Pardis Sabeti, co-senior
author. "The need for innovative diagnos-
Crispr-based Diagnostic Chips Perform Thousands
of Tests Simultaneously to Detect Viruses
users were stolen and sold on the dark web
for less than a penny each. According to a
piece by the Daily Mail
[5]
, the credentials in-
cluded personal meeting URLs, email address-
es, and passwords, along with host keys that
allow hackers to enter meetings and carry out
"Zoombombing" attacks whereby question-
able content is shared during Zoom meetings,
such as racist or pornographic material.
The Post-coronavirus World
Once the dust settles post-coronavirus, it's
expected many people will continue working
at least part-time remotely. A remote work-
force forecast by Global Workplace Analytics
[6]
suggests that the longer people are required
to work from home, the greater the adoption
we will see when it's all said and done with
COVID-19. The employment of all of the above
technologies will continue to serve business-
es well by protecting their networks and most
valuable data as remote work moves full steam
ahead into the future. PCB007
References
1. P. Bump, "40 Remote Work Stats to Know in 2020,"
HubSpot, April 22, 2020.
2. Symantec Security Response Team, "VPNFilter: New
Router Malware with Destructive Capabilities," Broadcom,
May 23, 2018.
3. Z. Whittaker, "Princess Cruises, hobbled by the coro-
navirus, admits data breach," TechCrunch, March 13,
2020.
4. D. Riley, "Samsung suffers data breach as coronavi-
rus spreads through South Korea," Silicon Angle, February
24, 2020.
5. S. Liberatore, "More than 500,000 Zoom user creden-
tials have been stolen and sold on the dark web for less
than a PENNY each," Daily Mail, April 14, 2020.
6. Global Workplace Analytics, "What is your work-
from-home forecast for after COVID-19?"
Ken Michael is VP of
Dox Electronics Inc.
