“Real Time, Portable DNA Sequencing Fights Drug-Resistant TB”
“Scientists in Madagascar have for the first time performed DNA sequencing in-country using novel, portable technology to rapidly identify the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis (TB) and its drug resistance profile. The project, led by an ambitious, global team of doctors and scientists from Madagascar’s National TB Program, Stony Brook University, the Institut Pasteur Madagascar (IPM), University of Oxford and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) is seeking to transform the surveillance, diagnosis and treatment of TB and other infectious diseases in Madagascar.
This is the first time DNA sequencing has been performed in Madagascar – enabled through deployment of the portable, affordable MinON sequencing device.
Beyond performing DNA sequencing on samples submitted to the nation reference laboratory for TB, the team partnered with TB clinics in the country to evaluate the ability to perform these analyses outside the labs or “in the field”. To achieve public health impact, their objective is to bring TB DNA sequencing closer to the patients for rapid diagnosis.”
Source: Infection Control Today
